Slide Background

Lydia Krabbendam

Professor Developmental Neuropsychology
Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences

Together with my group, I study the development of social cognition (empathy, perspective taking, trust) in adolescence, and the role of the social environment in this development. We investigate these processes at the level of behaviour (questionnaires, neuropsychological tasks, observation) and the neural mechanisms (fMRI and EEG).

Slide Background

Lydia Krabbendam

Professor Developmental Neuropsychology
Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences

Together with my group, I study the development of social cognition (empathy, perspective taking, trust) in adolescence, and the role of the social environment in this development. We investigate these processes at the level of behaviour (questionnaires, neuropsychological tasks, observation) and the neural mechanisms (fMRI and EEG).

Team Development of trust

Imke Jansen

imke jansen

Imke Lemmers-Jansen investigates behavioural and neural mechanisms of social decision-making among young people (16-21 years) with psychosis and young adults (up to 31 years) with clinically high risk of developing psychosis. In one of her studies, participants did the Trust Game and Social Mindfulness task in the fMRI scanner. Using a diary method (ESM), the participants filled out 7 days how they felt and what they did. This allows us to investigate fluctuations in feelings and symptoms in relation to the social context of the particpants. To investigate associations with the wider social context, we also collected data on the population density of the places where the participants lived (urbanicity).

A similar study was conducted in adolescents attending secondary school. In this study, data on  sub-clinical psychotic symptoms, social decision-making, and social context was collected.  

Imke has further been involved in the development of two modules for the metacognitive training (MCT) for people with psychosis. The modules focus on "why we trust someone else" and "why someone else trusts us” and how trust can be facilitated. We have currently run a pilot study testing the feasibility of these modules.

 

Esther Hanssen

esther hanssen

PhD candidate & neuropsychologist

I am a clinical neuroscientist and I am fascinated by the link between brain, behavior and mental health. My interest funneled towards psychopathology and later on more specifically to schizophrenia. My research focusses on the fundamental (neural) processes that are related to social and non-social reward in patients with a disorder in the schizophrenia spectrum. These patients often show difficulties in social functioning, which might be related to a deficit in social reward processing, to difficulties with trusting other people and to impairments in processing social cues. To investigate this, I am studying behavior and neural processes (fMRI) during social interactions (neuro-economic games) and experiences in daily life (ESM; Experience Sampling Method).

Next to this, I am working on more applied projects, such as the development of a mobile application to improve (social) functioning in patients with a disorder in the schizophrenia spectrum, where we provide real-time personalized feedback to patients in daily life. The combination of fundamental neuroscience on the one hand and more direct clinical interventions for patients on the other hand is very satisfying. I am passionate about contributing to the knowledge about schizophrenia and psychopathology in general, to  help identify how we can improve patients quality of life.