From Max Planck to Umeå University – Hsing-Fen Tu explores the learning brain

Children and adolescents are close to Hsing-Fen Tu’s heart. That is evident when we meet up for a cup of tea at the campus in Umeå, which is in the first flushes of spring.

“I have always had a special connection with children and adolescents, the way they is so direct and honest. I really appreciate working with children of various ages,” says Hsing-Fen Tu, postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Applied Educational Science Research at Umeå University.

Her face lights up when she talks about various research projects she has been involved in where the focus has been the development of children and adolescents. However, we go back in time to her formative years. Hsing-Fen Tu grew up in Taiwan, which consists of one large island and a few smaller islands in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Chinese mainland. From an early age she had a great interest in human behaviour and development, which eventually led to her training to be an occupational therapist. After graduating and spending some years working in Taiwan, she moved to Europe. Before coming to Sweden and Umeå University, she was living in Germany. Hsing-Fen Tu, who is used to significantly larger cities than Umeå, appreciates the calm the city offers.

“Umeå really is a paradise for those who love nature. The city feels small and peaceful but is at the same time very practical for everyday chores like doing the shopping. Umeå University is fairly young in comparison with, for example, the universities in Leipzig or Uppsala, and has a completely different atmosphere.”

I have always had a deep interest in human development; particularly how different factors shape who we become.

There were primarily two life experiences that drove her towards research.

“I have always had a deep interest in human development; particularly how different factors shape who we become. If I were to point out what has affected me most, it is two important periods in my life. The first was when I was working as a therapist on a psychiatric acute ward in Taiwan where I met patients with various diagnoses and life challenges. The other was when I was working with very small children for almost seven years in Germany. Despite these groups being very different, both show a genuine side of humanity that touches and inspires me profoundly.”

These experiences gave rise to a strong curiosity about the brain’s mechanisms and processes, particularly how it adapts in response to life’s challenges and opportunities. Hsing-Fen Tu decided to pursuit a doctorate and when she saw the announcement of a project at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig examining how active music engagement affects child development she knew immediately that it was exactly what she wanted to do.

Children and musical beats

As the projects progressed, she investigated whether musical beats influence visual attention and examined other factors that might affect children's attentional control. Her thesis was finished in 2023 and is titled The longitudinal investigation of infants’ attentional control and its associations with self-regulatory functions in toddlerhood and maternal mental distress.

“Being part of the Max Planck community was an invaluable period of my life. I was lucky enough to work in a very supportive environment with supervisors who gave me the freedom to develop my project. I also met many wonderful researchers and inspirational people. It was a great academic environment where I developed a lot. If I had to choose again I would undoubtedly make the same choice.”

Young children’s visual attention

At the Max Planck Institute she was conducting research in a pilot project in collaboration with the Berlin Music Kindergarten.

 “We tested a flexible music system integrated into various physical objects. The system was based on Jymmin, developed by Dr Thomas Fritz. Later I focussed on examining whether audiovisual synchronisation affects young children’s visual attention. In joint projects with Uppsala Child and Baby Lab at Uppsala university, we also studied the relationship between babies’ attention and their emerging ability to self-regulate over time.”

“We investigated cross-generational influence, especially how the mother’s mental health and own childhood experiences can affect the child’s cognitive development.”

Understanding the active learning

Since her time at the Max Planck Institute, Hsing-Fen Tu has continued to explore how human behaviour is shaped.

“An important part of that is understanding how we learn things. I am particularly interested in active learning and the mechanisms that support this.”

Active learning happens when someone is involved in the learning process by actively thinking, recalling information, or solving problems. This “effortful retrieval” is what makes active learning effective because it helps the brain strengthen connections and remember information better. On the other hand, passive learning is when information is simply given to a person without much mental effort, like just listening or reading without interaction.

Hsing-fen Tu and the research team are focusing on the brain and learning in the 18–25 age group.

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Hsing-Fen Tu is currently involved in a research project at Umeå University investigating neural dynamics in learning, the aim of which is to understand the interplay between learning methods and pre-existing knowledge. One area she and the research team is investigating is how active versus passive learning interacts with previously acquired knowledge and affects learning outcomes among 18–25-year-olds. This age group was intentionally chosen because the brain exhibits a high degree of plasticity during early adulthood. Understanding how to harness this plasticity is essential for optimizing educational approaches and supporting long-term academic, professional, and personal development.

“The aim of the project is to reveal the brain mechanisms underlying how we learn, especially how active learning – through retrieval practice – supports memory and understanding. This method has proved itself to be effective across ages, cognitive levels and learning methods. However, we still do not know whether the brain activates different networks depending on whether the material is already known or new. By investigating this we hope to develop more targeted educational strategies.”

Choosing the most effective methods

One goal of the research project is to enable teachers to choose the most effective methods based on both what the students know and how their brains process information.

There are also ongoing projects include collaborations with researchers in Uppsala, Belgium, Taiwan, Georgia and Germany. Most of the current projects focus on perinatal mental health and child development. Perinatal mental health involves women’s mental wellbeing during the period from the start of the pregnancy to about one year after childbirth.

To ask the right questions

According to Hsing-Fen Tu, the greatest challenge here, as it is in many other research projects, is to ask the right questions. At the end of the day, not asking the right questions from the start can jeopardised the results of the research.

“This involves asking questions that have not previously been asked, at the same time as the questions must be reasonable and we need to have a method for measuring the responses. Sometimes I’ve thought out cool questions but when we discuss them in the research team I understand that it was just my unrealistic thinking.” says Hsing-Fen Tu, laughing.

She also thinks that so far, she has been very fortunate to work in research environments that encourage creative thinking and provide strong support. She appreciates the discussions and camaraderie at Umeå University.

“Academically, I feel very lucky to be a part of this environment. I’m learning a lot through the project and am especially grateful that I’m able to work with such supportive colleagues and two incredibly knowledgeable supervisors. Their guidance has been invaluable and the opportunity to grow and explore new ideas is something I profoundly appreciate.”

Practical application of the research

Hsing-Fen Tu sees different contexts where her research may end up having practical applications in future, not least within the field of education.

“We are constantly learning in our everyday lives – regardless of whether this involves new technology, environments or social situations. By understanding active learning we hope to promote strategies that can be applied throughout life – from preschool to adult education and to preserve and strengthen cognitive abilities in the elderly.”

The teaching profession needs to become more attractive so that strong, motivated people want to stay. This is according to researcher Hsing-Fen Tu.

ImageMostphotos/Matej Kastelic

“We also hope to be able to contribute to more evidence-based teaching and to helping teachers make more informed decisions about when and how different strategies are to be used – which leads to more personally adapted and effective teaching.”

Hsing-Fen Tu believes that Teacher education, which has been much discussed recently, is incredibly important, as is the teaching profession.

“From a research perspective, I think we need both more scientific understanding of how learning functions and greater societal investments in education. In particular we should focus on educating and supporting teachers – making the profession more attractive so that strong, motivated people want to stay in it. Teachers play a crucial role in building future generations and deserve the resources, respect and acknowledgement that reflects that responsibility."