Lab News
Our study “Effect of LSD on reinforcement learning in humans” in PsyPost
Exciting news! Our groundbreaking work conducted by Kanen et al. (2022) has garnered recognition in the realm of science communication by PsyPost.
Recently, our research on the effects of LSD on learning and exploratory behavior in humans was featured on the highly regarded blog PsyPost. PsyPost is an independent science news website dedicated to reporting the latest research on human behaviour, cognition, and society. The article delves into our placebo-controlled study, revealing that LSD can enhance both learning and exploratory behavior. This breakthrough not only expands our understanding of psychedelic substances but also highlights their potential for positive cognitive impacts.
New paper by Johannes Algermissen in Journal of Experimental Psychology
Our study titled “Goal-directed recruitment of Pavlovian biases through selective visual attention.” is now posted online in Journal of experimental psychology. Here, we examined prospective outcomes bias behavior in a "Pavlovian" manner, namely reward prospect invigorates action, while punishment prospect suppresses it.
Theories have posited Pavlovian biases as global action "priors" in unfamiliar or uncontrollable environments. However, this account fails to explain the strength of these biases-causing frequent action slips-even in well-known environments. We propose that Pavlovian control is additionally useful if flexibly recruited by instrumental control. Specifically, instrumental action plans might shape selective attention to reward/punishment information and thus the input to Pavlovian control.
In two eye-tracking samples (N = 35/64), we observed that Go/NoGo action plans influenced when and for how long participants attended to reward/punishment information, which in turn biased their responses in a Pavlovian manner. Participants with stronger attentional effects showed higher performance. Thus, humans appear to align Pavlovian control with their instrumental action plans, extending its role beyond action defaults to a powerful tool ensuring robust action execution
Congrats to Dr. Johannes Algermissen!
On Monday 3rd of April, Johannes Algermissen elegantly defended his thesis "On the origin and control over pavlovian biases in learning and decision making” and received his doctoral degree cum laude. The lab would like to congratulate Johannes on this great achievement! Johannes now works as postdoc working with Dr. Miriam Klein-Flügge at Oxford University.
Fun lab activities in LDM lab
As humans, we learn and make decisions best when we are actively engaged and having fun. Fortunately, Hanneke understands this well. In our lab, we incorporate fun and engaging lab activities that help us to learn and connect with each other.
New paper by Benjamin Kop on bioRxiv
Our study titled “Auditory confounds can drive online effects of transcranial ultrasonic stimulation in humans” is now published online on bioRxiv. Across four experiments, one preregistered, at three independent institutions, we employed tightly matched control conditions to we disentangle direct neuromodulatory effects of transcranial ultrasonic stimulation (TUS) from those driven by the salient auditory confound in a combined transcranial ultrasonic and magnetic stimulation paradigm.
We replicated motor cortical inhibition following TUS, but showed through both controls and manipulation of stimulation intensity, duration, and auditory masking conditions that this inhibition was driven by peripheral auditory stimulation rather than direct neuromodulation.
This study highlights the substantial impact of the auditory confound, invites a reevaluation of prior findings, and calls for appropriate control conditions in future TUS work. Only when direct effects are disentangled from those driven by peripheral confounds can TUS fully realize its potential for neuroscientific research and clinical applications.
An official preprint of the paper can be found here and a pdf version in our publications section. And if you want to know more, please get in touch with Benjamin or Hanneke!
Bertalan joins the lab!
We are welcoming Dr. Bertalan Polner as a postdoctoral researcher to the lab! Bertalan is interested in the cognitive and neural mechanisms that support the estimation of the controllability of the environment, and the impact of these estimates on subsequent learning and decision-making. He will also study how individual differences in controllability estimates (i.e. tendencies to expect more or less control over the world) are associated with mental health
For more information about Bertalan, check out his personal page!
New paper in Psychological Medicine
Our study titled “Effect of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on reinforcement learning in humans” is now published online in the journal Psychological Medicine. Here, we examined how LSD affects probabilistic reversal learning (PRL) in healthy humans.
The results reveal that raw data measures assessing sensitivity to immediate feedback were unaffected, whereas LSD increased the impact of the strength of initial learning on perseveration. Computational modelling revealed that the most pronounced effect of LSD was the enhancement of the reward learning rate. The punishment learning rate was also elevated. Stimulus stickiness was decreased by LSD, reflecting heightened exploration. Reinforcement sensitivity differed by phase.
In conclusion, increased RL rates suggest that LSD induced a state of heightened plasticity. These results indicate a potential mechanism through which revision of maladaptive associations could occur in the clinical application of LSD.
The paper can be found in our publications section and well as here. And if you want to know more, please get in touch with Hanneke!
Solenn joins the lab!
We are happy to welcome a new member to our lab! Solenn is a student in the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Master at Radboud University, Nijmegen. Under the daily supervision of Soha, she will be working on her Master’s thesis research project aiming to translate an online TUS protocol established for non-human primates targeting the frontal eye field into a compatible version that could safely and effectively modulate behaviour in humans. For more information, check out her personal page!
Johannes heading to greener pastures
We are sad to announce that Johannes’ time in our lab has come to an end. However, we are excited that he will continue his research as a postdoc working with Dr. Miriam Klein-Flügge at Oxford University. There, he will investigate learning and decision-making processes with neuromodulation using TUS.
We wish Johannes all the best for his future career!
Congrats Helena, MSc. !
Helena Olraun, master's student and intern in the lab under the supervision of Floortje and Hanneke, successfully defended her Master thesis “Deciding how to decide: Dopaminergic mechanisms of meta decision-making”
We were delighted to have had Helena in the lab and we are excited to announce that she will stay at the Donders Institute as a research assistant in Roshan Cools group and as a lab manager for our lab.
We wish her all the best for her future!
DEAR Day 2022
On May 18th 2022, the LDM lab had its first DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) day! Check out the post for more information.
New paper by Vanessa Scholz in Neuropsychopharmacology
Our study titled “Cortical dopamine reduces the impact of motivational biases governing automated behaviour” is now published online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. Using a COMT inhibitor, tolcapone, known to selectively enhance frontal dopamine, we examined whether selectively enhancing frontal dopamine would: a) lead to an adaptive suppression of Pavlovian biases or b) result in a global reduction of Pavlovian biases in a valenced Go/NoGo learning task. Our results indicated a global, unspecific decrease of Pavlovian biases, with performance increases on trials required to overcome the bias, but worse performance on trials for which the bias is known to be helpful. These findings highlight the role of dopamine in regulating motivational processes involved in top-down control of automated behavior, while also opening up exciting new avenues for studying the underlying mechanisms driving symptoms of addiction or OCD, disorders often associated with overhabitualized behaviour.
A preview of the paper can be found here and if you want to know more, please get in touch with Vanessa or Hanneke!
Renée joins the lab!
We are welcoming Dr. Renée Koolschijn as a postdoctoral researcher to the lab! She is investigating the neural mechanisms underlying optimal decision-making in situations that require different strategies using pharmacological interventions in combination with neuroimaging and computational modelling. For more information about Renée, check out her personal page!