Psychology + Technology

We are an interdisciplinary, public research group at the University of Luxembourg. We use and create digital technologies to study and improve how humans learn.

Where  meets

Founded in June 2017 by Dr. Pedro Cardoso-Leite, xCIT is a research group where experts and students in science and design collaborate in a multidisciplinary endeavor to uncover the secrets of human learning and cognition in the digital age. We’re part of the University of Luxembourg and hosted in the Maison des Sciences Humaines of the shining new high-tech Campus Belval. We use state-of-the-art science and technology to create engaging digital experiences that are not only fun but also help us gather data to study and improve how human learns.

Learning is the Key

From education, to social interactions, our ability to learn and adapt to new environments is critical in most human endeavors and has repeatedly been acknowledged as an essential 21st century skill. There is a pressing need for better ways to assess and improve our cognitive abilities and learning efficacy.

But meeting such needs requires overcoming two main challenges:

Multiculturalism and interindividual differences: personalized training

To be effective, training must be adapted to learners’ skills, knowledge and motivation. Interactive digital media provide a means to assess individual differences and provide personalized content.

But how do we design personalized training algorithms that are efficient and effective?

Learning and Transfer: learning for impact

Learning in a specific situation does not typically generalize or transfer to situations that are related but slightly different. Yet, the goal of most learning is to be able to address a variety of situations and not only the specific training conditions.

But what are the principles and mechanisms that govern transfer of learning?

Our Approach to Research

Be Interdisciplinary

We collaborate with experts in machine learning, data science, psychology, cognitive neuroscience and education.

Embrace Complexity

We collect large data sets, from people facing a variety of cognitive tasks, questionnaires and video games.

Develop Applications

We create digital artifacts, in particular video games, to put our theories to the test and collect large data sets.

Iterate...

...Iterate...

...Iterate again

Our ultimate goal is to design scientifically validated interventions that have a significant positive impact on people’s lives.


The Team


  • Morteza Ansarinia
  • Pedro Cardoso-Leite
  • Brice Clocher
  • Aurélien Defossez
  • Kamelia Jamaati
  • Dominic Mussack
  • Emmanuel Schmück
  • International Collaborators
  • Former Members
  • Baptiste Bourgoin
    Game Designer and Developer

  • Sébastien Gaumin
    Game Designer and Developer

  • Maël Lacour
    Game Designer and Developer

  • Maxime Magnin
    Graphic and Animation Artist

  • Josselin Morau
    Fullstack Web Developer

  • Vincent Pettineo
    Game Designer and Developer

  • Jan Morgenstern
    Music and Sound Artist

Join us!


Our team is growing, with the recent arrival of new Ph.D.s, post-docs and interns in science, design and arts.
Curious about joining us? See for yourself what we do and how we do it!

We are always happy to hear from people interested in joining or collaborating with us! Although we don't have explicit openings as of now, we always offer opportunities for internships in data science (analysis of large scale behavioral data, computational modeling), game design and development, computer engineering (web apps), and digital arts for video games (graphics, animations, sound).

Feel free to get in touch with us at contact@xcit.org to find out more.

xCIT is supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund
(ATTRACT/2016/ID/11242114/DIGILEARN)