I am an assistant professor at the Psychological Methods Department (University of Amsterdam) and associate member of the Amsterdam Brain & Cognition Centre. I study the mechanisms that allow people to process information and decide on the optimal course of action. To this aim, I mainly use a combination of mathematical modeling and (neuro-)psychological experimentation. Specific research questions that I currently work on include: "What is the cognitieve and neural architecture of decision making under time pressure?”, "How do sequential decision making processes affect each other?", and "How can fundamental decision-making processes be applied to study higher-order cognitive processes?".

wolkeendkonijn2

Ultra-high fMRI reveals role for STN in multiple choice

Together with Max Keuken, Birte Forstmann, and others we recently found that the sub thalamic nucleus (STN) is involved in multiple-choice decision making. Using ultra-high fMRI (with a magnet of 7Tesla) we found that activation in STN increases as the number of choice alternatives increases. This finding lends support to the idea that the cortico-basal ganglia network mimics an optimal decision maker. You can find the paper here!

New paper out in Journal of Neuroscience

A paper of which I am particularly proud has recently been accepted for the Journal of Neuroscience. The paper introduces a new “single-trial” modeling method (the Single-Trial Linear Ballistic Accumulator) that can be used to obtain estimates for a decision-making process on a single trial. Using this method we showed that pre-supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex have separable roles in a speed-accuracy trade-off task.

Winner BCN summary prize

After being awarded the Van Swinderenprijs last december for my PhD thesis summary I have now also won the BCN Thesis Summary Prize. BCN is the Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience graduate school of the University of Groningen, to which I was affiliated while being a PhD student there.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the prize ceremony, but
Hedderik van Rijn accepted the award on my behalf.

Winnaar Van Swinderenprijs 2010!

Zojuist heb ik gehoord dat mijn proefschrift de Van Swinderenprijs 2010 gewonnen heeft! Deze prijs wordt jaarlijks door het Koninklijk Natuurkundig Genootschap uitgereikt aan een Groningse promovendus in de Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen of Medische wetenschappen met de beste Nederlandstalige samenvatting. Hierbij wordt met name de leesbaarheid en voor het grotere publiek op een begrijpelijke wijze verwoorde inhoud van de Nederlandstalige samenvatting geëvalueerd.

De prijsuitreiking is op 21 december.