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Recently on Mindwise

A forgiving cycle path: preventing bicycle crashes in the elderly

Cyclists are vulnerable, and particularly older cyclists have an increased risk of crashing. Therefore, Frank Westerhuis and his colleagues from the traffic psychology group investigated countermeasures to increase cyclists’ safety. This blog post reveals whether they were succesful in achieving this by using illusionary objects next to the cycle path.

Online misunderstandings can also result from excessive clarity

t is often assumed that online discussions escalate because people become less socially concerned when they are anonymous, or because online messages are unclear and easily misunderstood. In her PhD-dissertation, which she defended on September 22, Carla Roos reveals that the opposite is often the case: online communication is sometimes so clear that it can make people appear antisocial.

An anatomical look inside brain ’P-0255’

Who hasn't wanted to look inside someone's head, especially when that person is acting strangely? A look into the brain can indeed be revealing, both from a medical and neuropsychological point of view, but also from an educational one. This is literally the case with ’P-0255’. But P-0255 is not an old personnel number as a colleague suspected, nor is it a neuroimaging scan; it is the number of a specimen from the University Museum's pathological brain collection that shows a particular form of traumatic brain injury: a coup contre-coup.

It’s not just the squirrels: In defense of camping

Some people love camping holidays, others hate them. Whatever your opinion, this blog probably won't change your mind. Or...?

Why teaching your (grand)parents how the computer works is so challenging: The Neuroscience of Learning and Healthy Aging

Learning helps us cope with changes in our surroundings, and also find the best neighborhood ice cream parlor. Yet, it usually becomes harder as we get older. Thankfully, scientific findings show that it doesn’t always have to be that way.

Psychedelics: New Chance or New Hype for Psychology?

After their demonization and prohibition decades ago, psychedelic drugs are now again investigated by scientists. Stephan Schleim shares impressions from a recent visit to the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, one of the pioneering places for this research. Do psychedelics have therapeutic potential?

Sebastiaan Mathöt

Assistant Professor / Experimental Psychology

“This is why I feel that this is an exciting time to do cognitive science. Real progress is being made.”

Angela Ruepert

PhD Student / Environmental Psychology

“It appears that in the right context, people with relative weak environmental values will act as pro-environmentally as those with relative strong environmental values.”

Yannick Hill

PhD Student / Developmental and Educational Psychology

“Therefore, I would like to encourage researchers to look for the 007s of science and expand their horizon of inspiration, in order to advance the field of Psychology, or any other domain of science.”

Carla Geveke

PhD Student / DEvelopmental and Educational Psychology

"Out-of-school science activities are exciting, but should also evoke pupils’ conceptual understanding"

Laura Steenhuis

PhD Student / Clinical Psychology

“In the general population, auditory vocal hallucinations are reported quite often by adults, adolescents, and children.”

Martijn van Zomeren

Associate Professor / Social Psychology

“We seek the comfort, or prison, of embeddedness.”

Reint Geuze

Associate Professor / Neuropsychology

"As a boy I dreamt to become an explorer; now it turns out I have been one my whole life. Wonderful and… unexpected.”

Airi Yamada

Bachelor Student

"There is a marked difference between how the left and right hemispheres process information during visual perception."

Margaret Stroebe

Professor / Clinical Psychology

"homesickness is something students can relate to"

Maarten Derksen

Associate Professor / History and Theory of Psychology

"Management is the Cinderella of science: busily scrubbing the floors and keeping the house in order, while the ugly sisters squabble over who gets to be first author."

Marije aan het Rot

Associate Professor / Clinical Psychology

"Why do we allow ourselves to be videotaped 24/7 as if we are all criminals-in-waiting? [...] the third series, by Travis Hodges made me reflect on one of my research interests."

Andrea Soto-Padilla

PhD Student / Experimental Psychology

"Non-scientists think it is awesome because they are fascinated by the fact that flies have a brain and that flies can be used for something."

Tassos Sarampalis

Lecturer / Experimental Psychology

"Understanding speech is hard work and if it seems so easy and automatic most of the time, it’s because there are so many processes that carry this load."

Ralf Cox

Assistant Professor / Developmental Psychology

"Coordination occurs naturally and spontaneously, like synchronized clapping and mimicry, or functionally and intentionally, like joint action."

Koen Hogenelst

PhD Student / Clinical Psychology

"Social behaviour does not change easily as a result of decreasing serotonin."

Student Articles

Pulling another all-nighter? Think twice, says neuroscience

The opening hours of the university library in Groningen extend to 23:59h during exam weeks. But is it wise revising your exam materials late at night? Sophia Wilhelm puts this to doubt, and bases this on neuroscientific evidence.

Time perception in a never-ending pandemic

Humans tend to perceive time as passing at confusing speeds. This blog post explores the mechanisms that underlie the time distortions experienced by many of us, especially during the pandemic.

I am a Monist (clearing up a misconception)

Many think that believing in monism and not in any kind of metaphysical soul means believing in no mind at all. I am clearing up this misconception and argue that if the brain is the mind (just on a different level), psychology becomes the indirect study of the brain and neuroscience becomes the indirect study of the mind.

Two Buds Just Hanging Out, by Lisa Ruokis

The Intimate Link Between Sexual Shame and Religiousness

When it comes to issues of sexuality, whether it's sexual satisfaction or sexual shame, the role of religion seems to have been neglected. In this post, Lena Bogdanska explores the issue.

Reflecting on Psychology

Stephan Schleim

Mindwise Podcast · Reflecting on Psychology with Stephan Schleim

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Journeys Through Academia and America

Florian Sense

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Johanna and Mindwise present to you the first ever Adventures podcast - a series of short interviews with psychology students about their experiences studying abroad.

Adventures!

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The Replicability Crisis

Maarten Derksen

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A Broader Definition of Beauty

Simon Dalley

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In Time

Hedderik van Rijn

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Psychology and the Environment

Linda Steg

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A History of Meaning

Jeremy Burman

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Pupillary (Open Science)

Sebastiaan Mathöt

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Behind the scenes of the examinations committee

Marieke Timmermann

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Neuroscientist on the fringe

Jacob Jolij

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"In a society where so much is expected from us, isn't it "normal" to have symptoms like ADHD?"

Anselm Fürmaier

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Is Science in transition?

Sicco de Knecht

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We talk with Marieke about her research on memory and how meditation practice affects our cognitive system, and the consequences this has for our behaviour.

Marieke van Vugt

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The Psychology department's University Council members talk about University politics

Casper Albers and Boris Kyuchoukov

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We speak to Miriam Lommen about her work on PTSD

Miriam Lommen

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We sit down with Judith Daniels to talk to her about her work on dissociation

Judith Daniels

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Groningen's new stats Prof has it all: insights into Bayesian statistics, cool cognitive response time models and a professional career as a Magic The Gathering player.

Don van Ravenzwaaij

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Nina Hansen chatted with us about her current research project in Sri Lanka, her passion for applied research, the importance of taking initiative (Bachelor students listen up!!) and much more.

Nina Hansen

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Pontus shares insightful experiences and we ponder over what mindset is most helpful to navigate academia.

Pontus Leander

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Trudy's vision for a new academia.

Trudy Dehue

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