I am an Associate Professor in the Amsterdam Emotional Memory Lab at the Department of Psychology. My team studies the dynamics of emotional memory: How do memories change, spontaneously and through intervention? How do emotions arise from, and shape, our processing of continuous experience? Why do some memories become intrusive, and how does that affect our mental health? What aspects of emotional memory should therapy target and how? We address these questions using a range of methods, including behavioural experimentation, computational modeling, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and qualitative approaches.

Biography

After a clinical and a research master's in psychology, I completed my doctoral training at the University of Amsterdam investigating the neural dynamics of fear memory. From 2015-2018, I worked as an Investigator Scientist, and later as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. There, I expanded my knowledge of simple fears to more complex emotional memories including intrusive memories of trauma. While my core focus remained the basic neurocognitive mechanisms behind these memories, working within an interdisciplinary team of cognitive psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists gave me deeper insight into psychopathological mechanisms, and into what keeps science and clinical practice apart.

I returned to Amsterdam in 2018 to establish a research program on the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying memory transformation, developing novel experimental approaches to model emotional experiences with high personal relevance. This work now spans two main lines. The first combines lab experiments, neuroimaging, and computational modelling to unravel how narratives and emotion interact (with Floris Tijhuis, MSc, MA, and Dora Gözükara, PhD). The second uses experiments and single-case experimental designs in clinical and non-clinical populations to probe the mechanisms behind intrusive memories and their impact on mental health (with Linos Vossoughi, MSc, Eline de Vries, MSc, Faya Reinhold, PhD). As co-promotor, I also contribute(d) to projects investigating spider fear (Jacqueline "Jack" Peters, PhD), sleep and mental health (Faya Reinhold, PhD; Mona Klau, MSc), and network approaches to psychopathology (Inga Marie Freund, almost PhD). Alongside this empirical work, I continue to think through the conceptual questions linking adverse experience to persistent mental health problems.

My research is supported by personal grants (NWO Veni, NWO Vidi, NWO XS, L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship 2023) and an NWO consortium grant (NSMD).

Currently, I have different research strands focusing on 1) the modification of emotional episodic memory, 2) developing novel experimental and computational approaches to modelling episodic memories with high personal relevance, and 3) qualities and mechanisms of intrusive thoughts. Parallel to empirical studies and as core of my NWO Vidi grant, I am developing a theoretical framework for understanding the relation between emotional experiences, narrative formation, and mental health. Eventually, I aim to understand how memories work together to create the stories of our lives.

Unfortunately, I do not have capacity to take on internship students for the 2026/2027 academic year from outside our own psychology master programs, nor to supervise self-funded PhD students. Any available PhD positions will be advertised via Academic Transfer.

Current collaborations

• Prof Merel Kindt, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Dr Vanessa van Ast, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Prof Arnoud Arntz, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Dr Marie Deserno, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Dr Tessa Blanken, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Prof Anita Jansen, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
• Prof Anne Roefs, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
• Dr Martina DiSimplicio, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom
• Prof Antje Horsch, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• Prof Miquel Fullana, Clinic Barcelona, Spain

• Copromotor and primary supervisor of Linos Vossoughi
• Promotor and primary supervisor of Eline de Vries
• Promotor and primary supervisor of Floris Tijhuis
• Copromotor of Inga Marie Freund
• Copromotor of Mona Klau
• Part of supervision team of NSMD PhDs Sebastian Krebs, Iris Rapaport, Alex Botea and Sayo Stefflbauer
• Post doc supervisor of Dora Gözükara
• Post doc supervisor and former copromotor of Faya Reinhold (2025)
• Former copromotor of Dr Jacqueline (Jack) Peters (2024), now post doc at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

I am currently  (co-)supervising researchers investigating mechanisms of intrusive thoughts (Linos Vossoughi; Eline de Vries; Faya Reinhold), emotional memory in a network perspective of mental health disorders (Inga Marie Freund, NSMD PhDs), models of insomnia (Mona Klau), and the formation of memory networks (Floris Tijhuis, Dora Gözükara). 

Current administrative roles

• Research Master Psychology track coordinator
• Member of the Research Master Psychology curriculum committee
• Member of the Research Master Psychology learning trajectories committee
• Course coordinator Scientific Communication and Responsible Research (research master psychology)
• Member of the educational committee of the Dutch-Flemish Postgraduate school for Experimental Psychopathology research (EPP)

Previous

• Member/ chair of the department's Diversity and Inclusivity committee (2021-2025)
• Course coordinator Mood Anxiety and Psychotic Disorders (bachelor psychology; 2020-2025)
• Course coordinator 'Cognitieve functiestoornissen' (bachelor psychology; 2018-2020)
• Master thesis coordinator (2018-2020)
• Member of Master thesis Revision committee (2018-2019)

Other affiliations

• Plasticity, Memory & Language (PML) ambassador for Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC)
• Dutch-Flemish Postgraduate school for Experimental Psychopathology research (EPP)
• Young talent on NWO Gravitation grant ‘New Science of Mental Disorders’ (NSMD)
• ENIGMA-Anxiety and ENIGMA-fear conditioning working groups.
• NIAS-KNAW Fellow, autumn '23/'24