Cognitive Affective Research Lab (CAR-lab)

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.