Maikel Simon is a master’s intern from the Neurobiology master at Radboud University. He did his bachelors in Molecular Life Sciences at the Radboud University, specialising in neuroscience. For his bachelor’s thesis, he researched human capabilities in auditory smooth pursuit of moving sounds in Marc van Wanrooij’s lab. For his first master’s internship, he researched the laminar profile of predictive coding in Bernhard Englitz’ lab, using a combination of calcium imaging, widefield imaging and two photon microscopy to visualize neuron activity across cortical depth in the auditory cortex of mice.

For his second master thesis, Maikel is researching the role of serotonin in meta-decision making, under the supervision of Renee Koolschijn and Julie Hoomans. Specifically, Maikel is investigating how serotonin plays a role in belief of controllability, learned helplessness and resource investment. To achieve this, he is using a combination of a decision-making game together with a pharmacological intervention targeting serotonin levels, using the SSRI escitalopram.