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CAR-lab

Cognitive Affective Research Lab (CAR-lab)

 Making the difference for people with Mental Health Disorders
Making the difference for people with Mental Health Disorders
We are curious about why some people have good mental health and others have mental health problems, even under seemingly similar circumstances. We wish to learn what role of the brain and its functioning is in mental health. So we can understand and treat mental health problems better.

Many individuals will experience mental health problems at some stage in their lives. For about half of the people, this will only occur for one period of time. For others, this first occurrence of mental health problems is the start of enduring and recurrent suffering, which has a severe impact on daily life functioning, including studying, working and taking care of your family. We focus on aspects of mental health problems that have been linked to enduring and recurring suffering. 

Our main research interest concerns the following:

  • The role of emotion regulation in recurrence of depression
  • The working mechanisms of effective non-pharmacological treatments, including psychotherapy, for lowering the risk for enduring and recurring mental health problems
  • The role of rewards and personal value in cognitive control problems in people with recurrent depression
  • The neurocognitive underpinnings of suicidal thoughts and attempts
  • The influence of early life maltreatment on the brain and risk for mental health problems.
Relevance

A large impact on mental health and healthy ageing

We focus on disturbances of mood & affect that have a major impact on daily life functioning and quality of life.

  • Symptom dimensions that have a negative impact on the course of mental health problems
  • Neurocognitive underpinnings of mental health problems
  • Working mechanisms of therapeutic interventions that improve the long term course of mental health problems

Our group focuses on different projects:

  • In this randomized clinical trial, the CAR-lab team investigates the neurocognitive working mechanisms of preventive cognitive therapy for preventing relapse in new depressive episodes. This project was funded through a VENI-grant from NOW/ZonMW and a Dutch Brain Foundation fellowship, awarded to Marie-José van Tol. In this project, we collaborate with prof. dr. Claudi Bockting (Amsterdam UMC) and Evelien van Valen (UMC Utrecht). For more information and a fact sheet on the results, see the NEWPRIDE study website.

  • In this clinical neuroimaging project, financed by the Dutch Scientific Organization (NWO), we aim to 1) understand the underlying neural mechanisms of suicidality and 2) develop neurocognitive markers predictive of risk for relapse of suicidal behavior. This project is a collaboration between the Department of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, and Specialized Mental Health Care institutions in the Northern Netherlands. For more information, see the HOPES study website.

  • In the MINDCOG study, we investigate the content of perseverative cognition (rumination, worrying) in Major Depressive Disorder and the mechanisms by which it affects vulnerability for depression. We combine cognitive neuroscience with clinical psychology to study how different potent clinical techniques (i.e. mindfulness and positive fantasizing) affect spontaneous thought processes and their neural correlates in individuals vulnerable for depression. In this study we collaborate with dr. Marieke van Vugt (Artificial Intelligence, RUG, NL), dr. Brian Ostafin (Experimental Psychopathology, RUG, NL), dr. Harriëtte Riese (UMCG), and Prof. Claudi Bockting, AMC, NL.

  • This study focuses on understanding the fundamentals of cognitive dysfunction in remitted depression and its role in relapse. To this end, we study basic processes of reward processing and cognitive control and develop a new intervention to help people with motivation problems become more active again in everyday life. This study is funded through a VIDI grant (NWO/ZonMW) awarded to Marie-José van Tol. In the project we collaborate with Matthias Pillny (University of Hamburg, Germany), Ernst Koster (Ghent University, Belgium), Harriëtte Riese (UMCG), Lisette van der Meer (University of Groningen), Carien van Reekum (University of Reading, UK), and expert by experience Annemiek Lely.

  • We fulfil a primary role in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA)-neuroimaging study since the start of this largest longitudinal, multi-center functional neuroimaging project since 2005 and now coordinate the project as Principal Investigator for the Groningen part. The primary objective of the NESDA neuroimaging study is to understand why one person is depressed or suffers from an anxiety disorder only once, while the other person develops a chronic depression/anxiety disorder. We collaborate with the VU University Medical Center and Leiden University Medical Center.

  • In this innovative interdisciplinary project, funded by the University of Groningen through a scholarship to Saskia Nijmijer, we collaborated with prof. dr. Merel Keijzer (applied linguistics, faculty of arts) and studied the relation between acquiring new complex skills (learning a second language, musical training, art training), cognitive flexibility, and risk for disorders of old age (including dementia and major depressive disorder) using cross-sectional and experimental approaches including functional MRI.

More about

Contact

Bote Smid
Research Coordinator, Staff

Center for Clinical Neuroscience and Cognition
University Medical Center Groningen
Triade building, entrance 24, Groningen, Netherlands

Visiting Address

Internal postcode FA32
PO BOX 30.001
9700 RB Groningen
The Netherlands