Melle J.W. van der Molen, PhD

Principal Investigator

I am an assistant professor in Clinical Neurodevelopmental Psychology at Leiden University and principal investigator at the CoDAP lab. My work lies at the intersection between developmental cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology. A key denominator of my work is employing a multi-method approach - combining behavioral and neuroimaging assessments, as well as advanced statistical methods. I aim at discovering reliable transdiagnostic markers that will aid in understanding the etiology of psychological disorders

Biosketch and CV

Elise Kortink, MSc

Ph.D. candidate

I am a PhD candidate for the Developmental and Educational Psychology at Leiden University and enthusiastic member of the CoDAP lab. My PhD project (i.e., the Changing Minds project), funded by an NWO Research Talent grant, aims to identify subgroups of people, characterized by similarities in personality, environmental, physiological and behavioral responses in various social contexts. These subgroups, or ‘symptom-profiles’ should help indicate who is at risk for developing social anxiety disorder in adolescence. I am particularly interested in examining potential differences in a brain mechanism involved during social learning and behavioral responses to uncertain social situations.

Selin Topel, MSc

Research Assistant

I am a research assistant in the CoDAP lab and a PhD candidate in the Clinical Psychology unit at Leiden University. I received my M.Sc. (Research) in Developmental Psychology from Leiden University and hold a B.A. in Psychology from Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. In the CoDAP lab, I work on the Changing Minds project, and I am interested in understanding the mechanisms involved in feedback processing and learning in social evaluative contexts. As part of the interdepartmental Social Resilience and Security Program, my PhD project - co-supervised by Prof. Ellen de Bruijn, Dr. Anna van Duijvenvoorde, and Dr. Henk van Steenbergen - will focus on the relationship between resilience, uncertainty, and cognitive flexibility.

Ruya Akdag, MSc

Research Assistant & Lecturer

I am a research assistant for the CoDAP lab. I received my research master's degree in Cognitive neuroscience from Leiden University. My previous line of research was centered around social anxiety and especially its psychophysiological underpinnings during emotion processing. I am excited to continue this line of work in the CoDAP lab. I will work on the Changing Minds project where I will further examine the physiological and neurological mechanisms underlying social anxiety in feedback processing. Furthermore, I am interested to examine individual differences between socially anxious individuals based on behavioral, contextual, and personality traits to better understand the different profiles of social anxiety.

Clarissa Kölgen, BSc

Thesis student

I am a master’s student in the Child and Adolescent Psychology track at Leiden University. I am currently writing my thesis in the context of the Changing Minds project. I would love to learn more about social cognition in developmental psychopathology. The neurophysiological and autonomic correlates of social anxiety are of particular interest to me.

Laura van Toor, BSc

Thesis student

I am a master’s student in the Child and Adolescent Psychology track at Leiden University. At this moment I am writing my thesis in the context of the Changing Minds project. I enjoy learning about the neuropsychological mechanisms of clinical disorders. For my thesis, I am particularly interested in exploring a common neural alarm system in people with social anxiety traits and certain personality characteristics. 

Robin Lubbe, BSc

Thesis student

Hi all, I am Robin and I am a Master Student for Clinical Psychology at Leiden University. I did my Bachelor Thesis in the Changing Minds in Social Anxiety project, and I am very happy to continue in this field at the CODAP lab. I have a high interest in doing research, which includes neurological and behavioral effects of (social) anxiety in clinical populations and individuals. For my thesis, I am especially interested in the effects or change of self-feeling when people receive positive or negative feedback while doing a task.

Lisa Glorie, BSc

Thesis student

I am a master’s student in the Child and Adolescent Psychology track at Leiden University. I am currently writing my thesis in the context of the Changing Mind project. I am interested in the social and cognitive characteristics of clinical disorders and I enjoy learning more about this. For my thesis, I am particularly interested in exploring self-esteem and self-evaluations in people with different levels of depressive symptoms

Noor Nabuurs, BSc

Thesis student

Hi! I’m Noor and I’m a Child and Adolescent Psychology Master student at Leiden University. Currently, I am writing my thesis within the Changing Minds project. My focus lies on the interaction subtype of social anxiety (fear of negative evaluation) and its effect on neurophysiology after receiving social-evaluative feedback. I am also interested in emotion regulation, and whether this could be a protective mechanism for individuals with elevated levels of fear of negative evaluation.

Nadina Nugter, BSc

Thesis student

Hi all, I am Nadina Nugter and am a masters student at Leiden University, studying Child and Adolescent Psychology. For my masters thesis, I am working with de CoDAP Lab specifically within the Changing Minds project.  In my thesis I will be researching the effect of online social rejection on the heart rate of participants during a social paradigm. My bachelor thesis has raised my interest in the mechanisms at work in the development of anxieties, specifically social anxiety. The fact that repeated rejection can contribute to the development of social anxiety, I hope to learn more about the mechanisms at work during social rejection.

Louise van de Breevaart

Honors student

I am a Bachelor of Psychology student at Leiden University and I am carrying out my Honors Research Bachelor Project within the Changing Minds project. My research interests include the fields of Clinical Neuropsychology and Developmental Psychology. The Changing Minds project allows me to study the neurophysiological and behavioral effects of performance-related feedback in people with different levels of social anxiety. 

Klara Wiezcorke

Honors student

I am a third-year bachelor student in psychology at Leiden University and I am currently conducting my Honours Research Bachelor Project as part of the CoDAP lab team. I am fascinated by the interactions between biological properties of the body, environmental factors, and behavior. I am specifically interested in research that informs on psychological or neurological illness. As for my thesis, I am focusing on the correlation between performance-related feedback and brain activity in relation to anxiety level.