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Knapen Lab

Computational Cognitive Neuroscience


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We are the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab led by Tomas Knapen. The lab is equally based both at the Cognitive Psychology department at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and at the Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences.
We perform computational modeling, imaging, psychophysics, and eye movement experiments to investigate how activations in the brain give rise to our conscious awareness of ourselves and the world around us. Our "Spiel" is that we try to understand the structure of the brain's responses, even those of high cognitive function, in light of vision and other sensations. Specifically, we investigate how sensory information intermixes with cognitive factors such as attention, semantic processing, and reward. For more information on the topics we research, please see the science section, or click any of the topics further below on this page.

For information on the procedures that we use in the lab, please consult the lab wiki

And, if you want to follow the goings-on in the lab, you can follow the lab on Twitter:

Follow @tknapen

News from the lab:


  • Nature paper on vicarious body maps published

    November 26, 2025

    Vicarious body maps link visual and tactile processing in human cortex.


  • Nature Communications paper on psilocybin and visual context published

    November 21, 2025

    Effects of psilocybin on contextual computations in visual processing.


  • Nature Human Behaviour paper on binocular rivalry published

    November 13, 2025

    Mesoscale mechanisms of perceptual conflict resolution in binocular rivalry.


  • Nature Neuroscience perspective on consciousness theory published

    March 10, 2025

    Perspective on scientific standards for theories of consciousness.


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Science Topics


Connective Field Modeling


Model-based mapping of Topographic Connectivity


Population Receptive Field Mapping


Mapping how visual-spatial information is encoded in the human brain


Finite Impulse Response Fitting


Estimating event-related responses from time series signals


Saccadic Adaptation


Plasticity in sensorimotor control


Bistable Perception


Dynamic visual decision-making

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