Learning & Decision-making

We make predictably bad decisions. We eat that extra slice of cake, buy the expensive phone, and fail to save our planet. It is a dream of psychiatry, and society at large, to understand how our motivations sway our actions in often seemingly irrational ways.

In our lab, we study the neural and computational mechanisms that drive our rational and irrational decisions. We study when our ‘auto-pilot’ takes over, and how we (fail to) regain control when it sends us awry. We dissect the role of neuromodulators such as dopamine and serotonin using psychopharmacological interventions, and stimulate and measure brain activity to find out which brain circuits are involved. Finally, we study how decision-making is altered in psychiatric disorders like OCD, autism and depression, with the ultimate aim of improving diagnosis and treatment.

Research group information

Click on one of the links below for more information about this research group or contact one of the members of this group.

People

Principal Investigator

Dr. Hanneke den Ouden

Group members

Postdocs

PhD candidates

Key grants and prizes

2018 Radboud Science Award, project: Automatisch gedrag of bewuste keus? (EN: auto-pilot or conscious decision?). Associated education package designed for primary school children (in Dutch): https://www.wetenschapdeklasin.nl/activiteiten/automatisch-gedrag
2017 - Vidi grant by Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (800.000 EUR, 5 yr) for the project: Getting things done - Unravelling the neurocognitive mechanisms of adaptive decision-making.
2016 - Henry Dale Fellowship (Wellcome Trust and Royal Society). (950.000 GBP, 5 yr) - declined
2014 - Research talent grant by the NWO to fund PhD project of Jennifer Swart, Project title: Overcoming affective biases of decisionmaking - Combining neurophysiology, neurostimulation and computational psychology
2011 - Veni grant by NWO for the project: Learning to go: Frontostriatal coupling and the interaction between motivation and action (250,000 EUR for 3 years)

Key publications

Algermissen J, Swart JC, Scheeringa R, Cools R, & den Ouden HEM (2023). Prefrontal signals precede striatal signals for biased credit assignment in motivational learning biases. Nature Communications;
Scholz, V., Hook, R. W., Kandroodi, M. R., Algermissen, J., Ioannidis, K., Christmas, D., ... & den Ouden, H. E. (2022). Cortical dopamine reduces the impact of motivational biases governing automated behaviour. Neuropsychopharmacology. pdf; supplementary material
Van Nuland, A. J., Helmich, R. C., Dirkx, M. F., Zach, H., Toni, I., Cools, R., & den Ouden, H. E. (2020). Effects of dopamine on reinforcement learning in Parkinson’s disease depend on motor phenotype. Brain, 143(11). pdf
Swart JC, Froboese MI, Cook JL, Geurts DEM, Frank MJ, Cools R, den Ouden HEM (2017) Catecholaminergic challenge uncovers distinct Pavlovian and instrumental mechanisms of motivated (in)action. eLife. Full text
Den Ouden HE, Daw ND, Fernandez G, Elshout JA, Rijpkema M, Hoogman M, Franke B, Cools R (2013). Dissociable effects of serotonin and dopamine on reversal learning. Neuron. Full text
Den Ouden HE, Kok P, De Lange F (2012). Prediction errors in perception, attention and motivation. Frontiers in Perception, special issue on Predictive Coding. Full text

Links

Contact information

www.denoudenlab.org

Postal address

Postbus 9104
6500HE NIJMEGEN

Contact person

Dr H.E.M. den Ouden (Hanneke)