Research

Metacontrol

At Leiden University I study the neural and functional mechanisms of metacontrol.
It is thought that the relative contribution of goal-driven and stimulus-driven processes to decision-making and action selection can be controlled by regulating the ratio between (goal) persistence and flexibility. This regulatory process is described in a novel theoretical framework, the Metacontrol State Model, and is referred to as ‘metacontrol’. By using computational modeling and neuroscientific methods including MRI and EEG, I aim to classify behavioral parameters and neural mechanisms that contribute to intra- and interindividual metacontrol policies.

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Stress and adaptive learning

While working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute in Leipzig, I received a Rubicon grant from NWO to study the influence of stress on flexible behavioral control and its neural correlates in alcohol dependence (AD). Following a collaboration on the influences of acute and chronic stress on model-based (goal-directed) decision-making, I applied the Trier Social Stress Test in healthy participants and alcohol dependent patients to study the influence of acute psychosocial stress on flexible behavioral adaptation and working memory, and their neural correlates assessed by fMRI.

More details and updates on this project here