Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
fellow
Renée Visser
2023-2024
Home institution
University of Amsterdam
Country of origin (home institution)
Netherlands
Discipline(s)
Neuroscience and cognitive science
Psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis
Theme(s)
Health
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Renée is an L’Oreal-Unesco For Women in Science Fellow at NIAS during 2023-2024.
I am an Associate Professor in the Amsterdam Emotional Memory Lab at the Department of Psychology. As a cognitive neuroscientist working in clinical psychology, I use behavioural experimentation and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate mechanisms underlying the dynamics of emotional (autobiographical) memory.
After completing a clinical master (2009, cum laude), and a research master (2010, cum laude), I did my PhD (2016, cum laude) with Prof Merel Kindt and Dr H. Steven Scholte at the University of Amsterdam. For my post-doctoral training (November 2015-August 2018) I worked with Prof Emily Holmes and Prof Rik Henson at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge. During this time I was gratefully supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Union. In 2018 I returned to Amsterdam as an assistant professor. In 2023 I was awarded the L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship 2023, allowing me to spend a semester at the NIAS. My research is supported by personal grants from NWO (Veni; Vidi) and an NWO consortium grant (NSMD).
Research Project
The interplay of olfaction and emotional memory in conditions of health and disease
Most people believe that humans have a limited sense of smell compared to other animals, but this is incorrect. Our olfactory system is as developed as in other mammals. However, smell has received little attention in cognitive science, despite its significance in emotional learning, memory, and mental disorders.
Renée Visser aims to bridge this gap by integrating knowledge from various disciplines to understand the interplay between olfaction and emotional memory in human health and disease. Understanding emotional memory is essential for addressing psychological disorders, and research has shown the potential for modifying emotional memories. Olfaction research offers opportunities, as odor cues can be administered unobtrusively in natural environments for an extended period. This opens avenues for studying consolidation, retrieval, and modification of emotional memories with societal implications.
Research Interests:
Olfaction and emotional memory; memory modification; sensory processing in mental disorders; therapeutic applications of smell