Cognition & Plasticity Lab
The research in the Cognition and Plasticity laboratory focuses on (the neural basis of) core cognitive functions, such as attention, the plasticity of these functions, and their action-oriented nature. What are the mechanisms that allow us to select, suppress, and become aware of information in the environment? How does prior experience or mental training as cultivated by meditation influence these mechanisms that adaptively control information processing, our awareness and interactions with the world around us? Our methodological repertoire includes EEG, fMRI, tDCS and behavioral testing.
The lab is located at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Representative, recent papers:
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Laukkonen, R.E., & Slagter, H.A. (in press). From many to (n)one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.
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Slagter, H.A., & van Moorselaar, D. (in press). Attention and distraction in the predictive brain. Visual Cognition.
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Alilovic, J., van Moorselaar, D., Graetz, M., van Gaal, S., & Slagter, H.A. (2021). Representational dynamics preceding conscious access. Neuroimage.
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van Moorselaar, D., Lampers, E. Cordesius, E., & Slagter, H.A. (2020). Neural mechanisms underlying expectation-dependent inhibition of distracting information. Elife.
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Boonstra, E.A., van Schouwenburg, M.R., Seth, A.K., Bauer, M., Zantvoord, J.B., Kemper, E.M., Lansink, C.S., & Slagter, H.A. (2020). Conscious perception and the modulatory role of dopamine: no effect of the dopamine D2 agonist cabergoline on visual masking, the attentional blink, and probabilistic discrimination. Psychopharmacology.
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van Moorselaar, D.* & Slagter, H.A.* (2020). Inhibition in selective attention. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1461(1):204-221. *equal contributions.
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De Vries, I.E.J., Slagter, H.A., & Olivers, C.N.L. (2020). Oscillatory control over representational states in visual working memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(2): 150-162.
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Bouwer, F.L, Honing, H., & Slagter, H.A. (2020). Beat-based and memory-based temporal expectations in rhythm: similar perceptual effects, different underlying mechanisms. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32(7): 1221-1241.
NEWS
Dec 2020: Heleen Slagter receives ERC consolidator grant
(2 million euros)
March 2018: Heleen Slagter receives ABC project grant, together with Damiaan Denys, Erik Rietveld and Julian Kieverstein, to study self confidence and predictive processing in OCD.
IDA
Feb 2018: Heleen Slagter & Carien Lansink receive interdisciplinary UvA grant to study the effects of memory on perception.
