Brain and behaviour

Karremans’s research focuses on the factors that determine the success or failure of romantic and other relationships. How do you maintain healthy relationships? He focuses specifically on the role of inhibition and mindfulness in processes such as forgiveness, sacrifice, and dealing with attractive alternatives.

What can teachers learn to help them nip bullying in the bud? Yvonne van den Berg develops practical tools to map social relationships in the classroom and interventions to reduce bullying.

Jacqueline Vink investigates addictions, such as substance abuse (alcohol, smoking, and drugs) and eating disorders. How are addictions impacted by our genes, our brain, and our environment? She uses this knowledge to develop programmes for addiction prevention and intervention.

Sanfey investigates how people make decisions and judgements. How much risk do I take with an investment? Or how to decide on a strategy when playing a competitive game with an opponent? He hopes to provide important clues as to the fundamental brain mechanisms by which decision-making operates.

Karin Roelofs investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying stress and stress-related behavior. She studies how people make decisions under pressure — not only in healthy individuals, but also in professionals at increased risk and in patients with stress-related disorders such as anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Our brain affects what we eat, but what we eat also affects our brain. Aarts studies eating behaviour in relation to the brain. She looks at specific brain functions, but also gut bacteria and the immune system.

How we perceive the world around us, and how we make choices, is strongly influenced by brain processes. Our objectives, attention, expectations and prior knowledge, all play an important role in this context. Floris de Lange studies the brain mechanisms that underlie these phenomena.

Sabine Hunnius studies how babies learn about the world and explore their surroundings, and how curiosity can be stimulated in young children. She is also interested in how babies interact with the people around them and how they learn to play and do things together with others.

Lisa Genzel conducts research into the memory processes of mice, rats and humans. She consequently focuses on rodent and human sleep processes. This research is important because sleep is essential for memory consolidation and memory is crucial to human functioning.

Harold Bekkering focuses on human learning from the perspectives of neuroscience, robotics, artificial intelligence, and psychology. Social interactions, motivation and the memory system are key concepts in his research. He aims to apply this knowledge to learning environments for young and old.