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Research in the lab examines the development of cognitive, emotional and social decision-making using cognitive neuroscience methods. Click on the topics on the right to get a short overview of our studies. The social brain in adolescence
Adolescence is a period of important social changes, during which the ability to switch between perspectives becomes more advanced. This perspective taking has implications for the way we express concern for others, but also for our sensitivity to opinions of others. Using experimental paradigms adopted from social and economic psychology (social games) we investigate changes in brain and behavior related to perspective taking and sensitivity to peer rejection.
Peer relations
The formation and maintenance of peer relationships is one of the most important developmental tasks across adolescence. During this period peer relationships become more diverse and complex. We investigate the neural correlates of social interactions with peers across adolescence. This research line examines various aspects of prosocial behavior to investigate the development of neural networks involved in interactions with peers. The studies cover a broad age range (8-25) and focus on dyadic peer relationships (e.g., friendships and antipathies) as well as peer status (e.g., popular or rejected status) in the peer group. These studies not only examine neural mechanisms involved in peer relationships across adolescence, but also the role of brain development in links between positive interactions with peers and psychosocial adjustment.
Longitudinal analysis of brain development
One of the main challenges of developmental cognitive neuroscience studies is to track changes in brain and behavior longitudinally. We are currently investigating developmental changes in childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood in three domains: cognitive control, impulse regulation and social-emotional functions. The part which focuses on cognitive control examines differences in learning strategies. Impulse regulation is investigated by means of risk taking, delay of gratification and impulsive aggression. The part in which social-emotional development is examined, focuses on reward processing and prosocial behavior. Both functions will be related to structural brain development (gray matter density and white matter tracts) and the role of gonadal hormones which are assessed on the day of scanning. Using multi-level models of change, we are expecting to demonstrate changes in developmental trajectories over time.
Intentional inhibition
The concept of stimulus-driven inhibition is well studied in cognitive developmental psychology. However, much less is known about intentional inhibition. The limited amount of research focusing on intentional inhibition from a developmental perspective is most likely due to the lack of experimental methods to study intentional inhibition in a developmental population. With our partners from the UK (Haggard), Belgium (Brass) and Germany (Muchau), we plan to test the putative brain regions important for stimulus-driven (i.e. instructed) and intentional inhibition using tasks developed by our colleagues. See also the Euroveto website for recent updates about the project.
Optimal learning and plasticity
The developing brain may have great potential for learning and adaptation. We study how children learn and adapt to a changing environment using creativity and adaptive learning paradigms. In addition, we examine how training and instruction result in changes in the developing brain to test for optimal periods of learning.
Research methodsOur primary methods are experimental behavioral studies and brain imaging. The majority of our studies involve functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but we also employ other brain measures as needed to address scientific questions. Our lab is equipped with a 128 channel EEG station, an autonomic recordings station and shared use of 1.5T and 3T functional MRI scanners, located at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). We participate in the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), which is an interfaculty center for interdisciplinary research on brain and cognition, supported by the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Faculties of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Arts, and Mathematics & Natural Sciences, Leiden University (LIBC).
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