Johan Lundin Kleberg

About me

I am a postdoctoral researcher and clinical psychologist. I defended my PhD thesis at Uppsala university in 2018, and became an associated professor (docent) at the same university in 2020.

Research description

My research is about attentional functions in infants, children and adolescents with or at risk for atypical development. I use eye tracking and physiological measures to study attentional processes and how they are related to psychiatric conditions.

One of my research interests is the overlap between autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety, and how it manifests in patterns of attention. I am also interested in how attention to socially meaningful stimuli is related to the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder. Another area of research is the cognitive and behavioral phenotype of Williams syndrome.

Together with colleagues at the Uppsala Child and Baby Lab, I study the links between attentional functions in infancy and a subsequent diagnosis of autism, and try to understand the types of attentional functions related to ADHD.

Publications

1. Löwenberg, E.B, Aili, F., Serlachius, E., Högström, J. & Kleberg, J.L. (accepted for publication). Reduced left visual field bias for faces in adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
2. Kleberg, J.L, Högström, J., Sundström, K., Frick, A. & Serlachius, E. (accepted for publication). Delayed gaze shifts away from others’ eyes in children and adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders
3. Espinosa, L.*, Kleberg, J.L*, Hofvander, B., Berggren, S., Bölte, S. & Olsson, A. Enhanced social learning of threat in adults with autism (accepted for publication). Molecular Autism (*Equal participation)
4. Kleberg, J.L, Frick, M.A, & Brocki, K.C (2020). Can auditory warning signals normalize eye movements in children with ADHD? European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1007/s00787-020-01484-w
5. Kleberg, J.L, Frick, M.A, & Brocki, K.C (2020). Increased pupil dilation to happy faces in children with hyperactive/impulsive symptoms of ADHD. Development and Psychopathology
6. Högström, J., Nordh, M., Larson Lindal, M., Taylor, E., Serlachius, E., & Kleberg, J.L (2019). Visual attention to emotional faces in adolescents with social anxiety disorder receiving cognitive behavioral therapy. PloS one, 14(11), e0225603. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225603
7. Kleberg, J.L, Hanqvist, C., Serlachius, E. & Högström, J. (2019). Pupil dilation to emotional expressions in adolescent social anxiety disorder is related to treatment outcome. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 65, 26-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2019.04.006
8. Kleberg, J.L, Nyström, P., Bölte, S. & Falck-Ytter, T. (2019). Sex Differences in Social Attention in Infants at Risk for Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 49(4),1342-1351 DOI : 10.1007/s10803-018-3799-z
9. Kleberg, J. L., del Bianco, T., & Falck-Ytter, T (2019). How Infants’ arousal influences their visual search. Child Development, 90 (4), 1413-1423
10. Kleberg, J. L. (2018). Visual Attention to Faces, Eyes and Objects: Studies of Typically and Atypically Developing Children (Doctoral dissertation, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).
11. Kleberg, J. L., Högström, J., Nord, M., Bölte, S., Serlachius, E., & Falck-Ytter, T. (2017). Autistic Traits and Symptoms of Social Anxiety are Differentially Related to Attention to Others’ Eyes in Social Anxiety Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(12), 3814-3821.
12. Kleberg, J. L., Thorup, E., & Falck‐Ytter, T. (2017). Visual orienting in children with autism: Hyper‐responsiveness to human eyes presented after a brief alerting audio‐signal, but hyporesponsiveness to eyes presented without sound. Autism Research, 10(2), 246-250.
13. Thorup, E., Kleberg, J. L., & Falck-Ytter, T. (2017). Gaze Following in Children with Autism: Do High Interest Objects Boost Performance? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(3), 626-635
14. Kleberg, J. L., Thorup, E., & Falck‐Ytter, T. (2017). Reduced visual disengagement but intact phasic alerting in young children with autism. Autism Research, 10(3), 539-545.
15. Kleberg, J. L., Selbing, I., Lundqvist, D., Hofvander, B., & Olsson, A. (2015). Spontaneous eye movements and trait empathy predict vicarious learning of fear. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 98(3), 577-583.
16. Kleberg, J. L. (2015). Resting state arousal and functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neurophysiology, 113(9), 3035-3037.
17. Kleberg, J. L., Lindberg, C., & Winblad, S. (2014). Facial memory deficits in myotonic dystrophy type 1. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 130(5), 312-318.