Employment and Education (pdf)
2011 – now
Senior researcher at Royal Dutch Kentalis, Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands. I am working for the project called 'Kentalis Kids Lab: language in the toddler brain'. In this project, we study language processing in 5-year-old children with Specific Language Impairments. Phonological, sematical, and syntactic abilities of the children are measured by using behavioral and ERP tasks. The other researchers of the project are Dr. Judith Pijnacker, Dr. Marjolijn van Weerdenburg, Prof.dr. Harry Knoors, and Prof.dr. Ludo Verhoeven. In this project, we collaborate with Auditory Diagnostic Centers and the Behavioural Sciene Institute (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). June 2011 - now.
2009 – 2011
Research coordinator of the REACH project (Research Examining Aging and Cognitive Health) in the D'Esposito lab at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California Berkeley, USA. The REACH project focused on how goal-directed behavior could be improved in a healthy aging population, 60-80 years old. The effects of three different interventions were assessed by neuropsychological measures, fMRI brain scans, and functional behavioral tests. DNA samples were also administered. My task was to have a clear overview of the entire study, coordinate and organize all parts of the study, do test sessions, and analyze data. The lead researchers of this project were Dr. Gary Turner and Prof.dr. Mark D'Esposito. October 2009 – March 2011.
2005 – 2009
PhD student at the Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). The topic of my PhD research was to study auditory perception in children with Specific Language Impairment and children with Cerebral Palsy, using ERPs. Paradigms were pre-tested and studied carefully in healthy adults. The EEG-recordings of the children were performed in our mobile EEG-lab (mini-van), which I also set up. My supervisors were Prof.dr. Ludo Verhoeven, Prof.dr. Peter Hagoort, Dr. Daniëlle van den Brink, and Prof.dr. Hans van Balkom. The project belonged to the program "Kids Learning to take INitiatives in communication (KLINc)", which was part of the larger program "In-com-clusie" (www.incomclusie.nl). The project was funded by the European Union (Interreg) and Viataal (Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands). January 2005 – December 2009.
2004 – 2005
Junior researcher at the Behavioural Science Institute (group: Learning and Plasticity; Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). My task was to do a literature study and to write a research proposal about neurocognitive research on reading and communication in multiple disabled children. September 2004 – January 2005.
2004
Research Assistant at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. My task was to perform an ERP study with dyslexic and typically developing children of 8/9 years old and to analyze their behavioral and EEG data. June – September 2004.
2004
Student Assistant at the Baby Research Centre and at the group of speech comprehension of the Max Planck Institute for psycholinguistics (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). At the Baby Research Centre I did behavioral studies with infants from 5 to 30 months old. Moreover, I studied language processing in adults by recording ERPs. March – September 2004.
2003
Diagnostic internship at the department of Child Auditory Centre at the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I performed psychological tests with children from 2½ to 7 years old who had speech and language disorders and I reported the test sessions. June – August 2003.
2002 – 2003
Research internship at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I studied the time course of semantic and phonological information processing during implicit picture naming in children of 8/9 years old, by using ERPs (N200). I was supervised by Leo Blomert and Bernadette Jansma. May 2002 – July 2003.
2002
Student Assistant at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I performed an EEG experiment with children of 5/6 years old, which focused on language comprehension and I studied language processing in adults by performing two behavioral and one EEG experiment. January – December 2002.
2001
Student Assistant at the department of Experimental Psychology, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. My task was to provide information to participants who participated in a study about weight loss. Moreover, I processed the data from questionnaires. September – December 2001.
2000
Tutor of Statistics at the faculty of Psychology, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I was a tutor of a statistics course for second-year students. October – December 2000.
1998 – 2003
Study Psychology with Specialization in Biological Developmental Psychology at the University Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Senior researcher at Royal Dutch Kentalis, Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands. I am working for the project called 'Kentalis Kids Lab: language in the toddler brain'. In this project, we study language processing in 5-year-old children with Specific Language Impairments. Phonological, sematical, and syntactic abilities of the children are measured by using behavioral and ERP tasks. The other researchers of the project are Dr. Judith Pijnacker, Dr. Marjolijn van Weerdenburg, Prof.dr. Harry Knoors, and Prof.dr. Ludo Verhoeven. In this project, we collaborate with Auditory Diagnostic Centers and the Behavioural Sciene Institute (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). June 2011 - now.
2009 – 2011
Research coordinator of the REACH project (Research Examining Aging and Cognitive Health) in the D'Esposito lab at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California Berkeley, USA. The REACH project focused on how goal-directed behavior could be improved in a healthy aging population, 60-80 years old. The effects of three different interventions were assessed by neuropsychological measures, fMRI brain scans, and functional behavioral tests. DNA samples were also administered. My task was to have a clear overview of the entire study, coordinate and organize all parts of the study, do test sessions, and analyze data. The lead researchers of this project were Dr. Gary Turner and Prof.dr. Mark D'Esposito. October 2009 – March 2011.
2005 – 2009
PhD student at the Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). The topic of my PhD research was to study auditory perception in children with Specific Language Impairment and children with Cerebral Palsy, using ERPs. Paradigms were pre-tested and studied carefully in healthy adults. The EEG-recordings of the children were performed in our mobile EEG-lab (mini-van), which I also set up. My supervisors were Prof.dr. Ludo Verhoeven, Prof.dr. Peter Hagoort, Dr. Daniëlle van den Brink, and Prof.dr. Hans van Balkom. The project belonged to the program "Kids Learning to take INitiatives in communication (KLINc)", which was part of the larger program "In-com-clusie" (www.incomclusie.nl). The project was funded by the European Union (Interreg) and Viataal (Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands). January 2005 – December 2009.
2004 – 2005
Junior researcher at the Behavioural Science Institute (group: Learning and Plasticity; Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands). My task was to do a literature study and to write a research proposal about neurocognitive research on reading and communication in multiple disabled children. September 2004 – January 2005.
2004
Research Assistant at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. My task was to perform an ERP study with dyslexic and typically developing children of 8/9 years old and to analyze their behavioral and EEG data. June – September 2004.
2004
Student Assistant at the Baby Research Centre and at the group of speech comprehension of the Max Planck Institute for psycholinguistics (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). At the Baby Research Centre I did behavioral studies with infants from 5 to 30 months old. Moreover, I studied language processing in adults by recording ERPs. March – September 2004.
2003
Diagnostic internship at the department of Child Auditory Centre at the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I performed psychological tests with children from 2½ to 7 years old who had speech and language disorders and I reported the test sessions. June – August 2003.
2002 – 2003
Research internship at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I studied the time course of semantic and phonological information processing during implicit picture naming in children of 8/9 years old, by using ERPs (N200). I was supervised by Leo Blomert and Bernadette Jansma. May 2002 – July 2003.
2002
Student Assistant at the department of Neurocognition, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I performed an EEG experiment with children of 5/6 years old, which focused on language comprehension and I studied language processing in adults by performing two behavioral and one EEG experiment. January – December 2002.
2001
Student Assistant at the department of Experimental Psychology, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. My task was to provide information to participants who participated in a study about weight loss. Moreover, I processed the data from questionnaires. September – December 2001.
2000
Tutor of Statistics at the faculty of Psychology, University Maastricht, The Netherlands. I was a tutor of a statistics course for second-year students. October – December 2000.
1998 – 2003
Study Psychology with Specialization in Biological Developmental Psychology at the University Maastricht, The Netherlands.