The Cognitive Ability & Plasticity Lab aims at fostering our understanding of individual differences in cognitive abilities and how they can change through experience.
How do people differ in their cognitive abilities?
Understanding cognitive individual differences is essential for identifying good targets for interventions. Given their central role in human cognition, we focus particularly on working memory, executive functions, and reasoning ability.
Most recent publication:
Individual differences in task-unrelated thought in university classrooms.
How do everyday life experiences relate to the way we think?
Everyday life experiences shape our thinking. But how? We tackle this question by investigating everyday life factors such as functional ability and stress, life-long experiences such as bilingualism and multiculturalism, and cognitive ageing.
Most recent publication:
Functional ability in everyday life: Are associations with an engaged lifestyle mediated by working memory?
How can we boost cognitive performance?
Through identifying the mechanisms and context factors underlying cognitive performance and cognitive change, our goal is to design and implement short-term interventions that have the potential to improve cognitive abilities.
Most recent publication:
Effectiveness of cognitive stimulation for dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.