What is the topic of your PhD project and how does your work look like in practice?
My PhD will be on the topic of disrupting overgeneralization of prior experience through neuromodulation of our sense of control. What is looks like in practice? I just started, but I can try to explain the plan! Imagine: Every day, we must make decisions, and try to reach our goals. According to our environment, we then have to put in effort when we have control and our actions matter (instrumental strategies), and we must save energy and use more reflexive behavior when we have no control over the situation at hand (Pavlovian strategies). Now, what this in essence means is that we hypothesize that the degree to which we perceive our environment as controllable on the meta-level will affect how we make decisions.
For my PhD, I will try to investigate and model how our brain estimates the controllability of the environment (e.g., our sense of control) and then, on a meta-level, arbitrates between Pavlovian and instrumental behavior strategies. Additionally, since we know that prior stressful experiences influence how much we currently feel in control (which probably affects our behavior), I will then focus on using transcranial focused ultrasound to interfere with these effect of prior stress experiences on our controllability estimation. So yeah, a really exciting project! But I am still writing my TSP, so for a more elaborate explanation you will have to wait a bit! 😉
What has your career path been so far and how did you come to your current position?
After high school, I never wanted to study, or commit too obtaining a university degree. I wanted to become a barber instead. In hindsight, I most likely didn’t want to study since I didn’t think I could do it. Anyway, most of my friends went to university, and I too wanted to have the freedom that I saw that they had. So, in the end, I decided to try it. My first studies, Political sciences, were a disaster. But in the end, I found the Psychology Bachelors here at Radboud university. There, during in the first year, I saw Dr. Dennis Schutter performing a TMS demo. I was fascinated. I then decided to try the Cognitive Neuroscience Masters at the elusive Donders Institute, followed by a research assistantship – and I really liked it all. And now, I ended up as a PhD candidate.
What is an important life lesson you have learned in the past?’
If you are unsure whether you can do something, just do it. Usually, what happens will (at least) be a good story to reminisce about. For me, this lesson can really apply to anything. For example, ranging from trying new foods to travelling the world, or even attempting a study.
Is there a project or anything you're involved with that you'd like to promote?
Shameless, but can I then promote my music project? Whenever I have the time besides my PhD, I really enjoy making music. I have this passion for underground techno music – especially when performing as a vinyl-record DJ during the Vierdaagse feesten.