Maximilian König, PhD

I am a psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist with a decade of international research experience across Germany, the UK, the US, and the Netherlands. My doctoral research examined the neurocognitive, social, and psychological consequences of childhood adversity, particularly the factors shaping mental health risk and resilience in young people.

I received my BSc in Psychology from Goethe University Frankfurt (2017), my MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from University College London (2018), and my PhD in Psychology (Developmental Psychopathology) from Leiden University (2025). I also conducted research at New York University and the University of Oxford to investigate neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying age-related changes in learning and decision-making. More information about my previous research experience can be found here.

Please note that I got married in summer 2023 and changed my surname from Scheuplein to König.

My academic CV is available here.

My resume is available here.

Email: koenig_maximilian@outlook.com
Pronouns: he/him

LinkedIn • Google Scholar • Bluesky

Publications

* indicates joint first authorship | Google Scholar • ORCID • OSF

9. König, M., Smith, A. J., Moreno-López, L., Davidson, E., Dauvermann, M., Orellana, S., McCormick, E. M., Peris, T. S., Kaser, M., Ioannidis, K., & van Harmelen, A-L. (2025). Friendship buffering effects on mental health symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a UK longitudinal study of young people with childhood adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 1-16.
Article • Open Access Resources

8. König, M., Berhe, O., Ioannidis, K., Orellana, S., Davidson, E., Kaser, M., Raise Consortium, Moreno-López, L., & van Harmelen, A-L. (2023). The stress-buffering role of friendships in young people with childhood threat experiences: a preliminary report. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14:2, 2281971.
Article • Open Access Resources

7. Nussenbaum, K.*, Martin, R. E.*, Maulhardt, S., Yang, Y., Bizzell-Hatcher, G., Bhatt, N. S., König, M., Rosenbaum, G. M., O'Doherty, J. P., Cockburn, J., Hartley, C. A. (2023). Novelty and uncertainty differentially drive exploration across development. eLife, 12:e84260.
Article • Open Access Resources

6. González-García, N.*, Buimer, E. L.*, Moreno-López, L., Sallie, S. N., Váša, F., Lim, S., Romero-Garcia, R., Scheuplein, M., Whitaker, K. J., Jones, P. B., Dolan, R. J., Fonagy, P., Goodyer, I., Bullmore, E. T., van Harmelen, A-L., NSPN consortium (2023). Resilient functioning is associated with altered structural brain network topology in adolescents exposed to childhood adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 1-11.
Article

5. Scheuplein, M., Ahmed, S. P., Foulkes, L., Griffin, C., Chierchia, G., & Blakemore, S-J. (2023). Perspective taking and memory for self- and town-related information in male adolescents and young adults. Cognitive Development, 67, 101356.
Article

4. Wittmann, M. K.*, Scheuplein, M.*, Gibbons, S. G., & Noonan, M. P. (2023). Local and global reward learning in the lateral frontal cortex show differential development during human adolescence. PLoS Biology, 21(3).
Article

3. Saragosa-Harris, N.*, Chaku, N.*, MacSweeney, N.*, Williamson, V. G.*, Scheuplein, M., Feola, B., ... & Mills, K. (2022). A practical guide for researchers and reviewers using the ABCD Study and other large longitudinal datasets. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 55(6).
Article

2. Scheuplein, M. & van Harmelen, A-L. (2022). The importance of friendships in reducing brain responses to stress in adolescents exposed to childhood adversity: a
pre-registered systematic review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45(6).
Article • Open Access Resources

1. Nussenbaum, K., Scheuplein, M., Phaneuf C. V., Evans, M. D., & Hartley C. A. (2020). Moving developmental research online: comparing in-lab and web-based studies of model-based reinforcement learning. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1).
Article • Open Access Resources

Book Chapters

2. Vermeulen, S., Scheuplein, M., van Harmelen, A-L., Alink, L. (2023). Kindermishandeling: Impact op slachtoffer en maatschappij. Handboek Slachtoffers.
Chapter

1. Scheuplein, M., Vermeulen, S., van Harmelen, A-L., & Alink, L. (2023). Child maltreatment and victimization. Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Brain and Crime 197,
147-160.
Chapter

Preprints

* indicates joint first authorship; trainees working under my mentorship are underlined.

2. Buimer, E.*, König, M.*, Wessels, P., Dorsman, H., Haverhals, A., THRIVE Consortium, Bos, P., Will, G-J., & van Harmelen, A-L. (2025). Friendship buffering and autobiographical memory specificity in young people with childhood adversity. PsyArXiv.
Preprint

1. König, M., Buimer, E., Wessels, P., Quist, R., Verspeelt, E., Rius Ottenheim, N., van der Wee, N., van der Werff, S., Bos, P., Liem, M., Peris, T. S., Hitchcock, C., Will, G-J., & van Harmelen, A-L. (2025). Friendship buffering and autobiographical memory specificity in young people with childhood adversity. PsyArXiv.
Preprint • Open Access Resources

Science Communication

5. König, M. (May 2024). Short interview about my PhD work on friendship stress buffering in young people with childhood adversity.
Leidraad (Dutch alumni magazine Leiden University), Interview

4. Scheuplein, M. & van Harmelen, A-L. (September 2022). Help your foster child be resilient.
BIJ ONS thuis in een gezin (Dutch magazine for foster families), Interview

3. Scheuplein, M. & van Harmelen, A-L. (April 2021). Building resilience in young people.
Leiden Psychology Blog, Article

2. Science Action and Advocacy Network (July 2020). Developmentally informed memo of support advocating for the cessation of arresting and prosecuting children under 12 as juvenile delinquents.

1. Scheuplein, M. (February 2019). Learning, decision-making, and the adolescent brain.
Oxford Medium, Article

Resilient Minds

I founded an international platform for early career researchers studying stress resilience and developmental psychopathology to provide networking opportunities and a forum to showcase current research. Up until 2023, I co-organized and led 38 meetings featuring interdisciplinary researchers from the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. Resilient Minds meetings take place online and everyone is welcome to join the group.

Want to join the group? Sing up here.
Recaps: Fall 2022 • Spring 2022 • Fall 2021 • Spring 2021