I am interested in emotional modulation of visual spatial attention and the underlying neural mechanisms of these processes. Currently, I am funded by a VENI grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). In this research project I examine the temporal dynamics of emotional modulation of attentional and visual selection. I use the method of fear conditioning to present threatening and non-threatening stimuli in various cognitive paradigms, such as visual search and spatial cueing. We measure manual reaction times and eye movement behaviour (SLT, saccade deviation, oculomotor capture) to index the time-course of attentional and visual selection. In addition, we use repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to determine which brain areas are essential in emotional modulation of attentional and visual selection and single-pulse TMS to investigate when these brain areas are essential.
During my PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, I worked on the interaction between bottom-up and top-down driven attentional processes (supervisor Prof. dr. Jan Theeuwes). After my PhD, I received a Rubicon grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) that allowed me to expand my research interest to a more clinical environment. During my post-doctoral fellowship at Ghent University I investigated the influence of threat on covert and overt attentional processes working together with Prof. dr. Geert Crombez.
Mulckhuyse, M., & Dalmaijer, E.S. (2015)
Distracted by danger: Temporal and spatial dynamics of visual selection in the presence of threat. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 16 (2), 315-324.
Mulckhuyse, M, & Crombez, G. (2014)
Disentangling attention from action in the emotional spatial cueing task. Cognition & Emotion, 28 (7), 1223-1241.
Mulckhuyse, M, Crombez, G., & Van der Stigchel, S (2013)
Conditioned fear modulates visual selection. Emotion, 13(3), 529-536.
Mulckhuyse, M, Van der Stigchel, S, & Theeuwes, J (2009)
Early and late modulation of saccade deviations by target distractor similarity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 102(3), 1451-1458.
Mulckhuyse, M, Talsma, D, & Theeuwes, J (2007)
Grabbing attention without knowing: Automatic capture of attention by subliminal spatial cues. Visual Cognition, 15(7), 779-788.