Jean-Philippe van DijckThomas More University College; Ghent University · Applied Psychology; Experimental Psychology
Jean-Philippe van Dijck
PhD
About
57
Publications
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1,886
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
September 2016 - present
January 2014 - December 2014
November 2009 - present
Universiteit Gent
Position
- PostDoc Position
Education
September 2009 - September 2011
October 2005 - September 2009
October 2001 - September 2005
Publications
Publications (57)
Several psychophysical and neuropsychological investigations have suggested that the mental representation of numbers takes the form of a number line along which magnitude is positioned in ascending order according to our reading habits. A longstanding debate is whether this spatial frame is triggered automatically as intrinsic part of the number s...
The ability to maintain the serial order of events is recognized as a major function of working memory. Although general models of working memory postulate a close link between working memory and attention, such a link has so far not been proposed specifically for serial-order working memory. The present study provided the first empirical demonstra...
Various prominent models on serial order coding in working memory (WM) build on the notion that serial order is achieved by binding the various items to-be-maintained to fixed position markers. Despite being relatively successful in accounting for empirical observations and some recent neuro-imaging support, these models were largely formulated on...
Most general theories on serial order working memory (WM) assume the existence of position markers that are bound to the to-be-remembered items to keep track of the serial order. So far, the exact cognitive/neural characteristics of these markers have remained largely underspecified, while direct empirical evidence for their existence is mostly lac...
In this study, we examined the nature of the spatial-numerical associations underlying the SNARC-effect by imposing a verbal or spatial working memory load during a parity judgment and a magnitude comparison task. The results showed a double dissociation between the type of working memory load and type of task. The SNARC-effect disappeared under ve...
Many studies have demonstrated spatial-numerical associations, but the debate about their origin is still ongoing. Some approaches consider cardinality representations in long-term memory, such as a Mental Number Line, while others suggest ordinality representations, for both numerical and non-numerical stimuli, originating in working or long-term...
Two implicit generalizations are often made from group-level studies in cognitive experimental psychology and their common statistical analysis in the general linear model: (1) Group-level phenomena are assumed to be present in every participant with variations between participants being often treated as random error in data analyses; (2) phenomena...
Two implicit generalizations are often made from group-level studies in cognitive experimental psychology and their common statistical analysis in the general linear model: (1) Group-level phenomena are assumed to be present in every participant with variations between participants being often treated as random error in data analyses; (2) phenomena...
To detect cognitive change after brain damage, it is important to know the level of premorbid intellectual functioning. A popular instrument in this context is the "Nederlandse Leestest voor Volwassenen" (NLV; Schmand et al., 1992). In this test, 50 words with irregular pronunciation must be read out loud. The score on this test used to be consider...
Coding serial order of information is a fundamental ability of our cognitive system, and still, little is known about its neural substrate. This study examined the neural substrates involved in the retrieval of information that is serially stored in verbal working memory task using a sensitive multivariate analysis approach. We compared neural acti...
Coding serial order of information is a fundamental ability of our cognitive system and still little is known about its neural substrate. The present study examined the neural substrates involved in the retrieval of information that is serially stored in verbal working memory (WM) task using a sensitive multivariate analysis approach. We compared n...
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same time,...
Psychological science could greatly benefit from research synthesis, especially when it comes to overcoming limitations of too small samples tested in single studies. However, initiatives aimed at sharing large, curated trial-level data from cognitive tasks remain scarce. To address this problem, we initiated a collective effort allowing to assembl...
The current study focusses on the level of statistics anxiety and the motivation to learn statistics in Flanders (Belgium) and determined to what degree these factors and their interaction relates to statistical performance. For this purpose, the Statistics Anxiety Scale and the Statistics Motivation Scale were translated, validated, and administer...
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that the rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same ti...
The problem of how the mind can retain sequentially organized information has a long research tradition that remains unresolved. While various computational models propose a mechanism of binding serial order information to position markers, the representational nature and processes that operate on these position markers are not clear. Recent behavi...
Cognitive control research is concerned with the question how we install adaptive behaviour in the case of (cognitive) conflict. In this review we focus on the role that awareness of this conflict plays in our ability to exert cognitive control. We will argue that visual conflict is not the only building block of metacognitive experiences of confli...
Theoretical models explaining serial order processing link order information to specified position markers. However, the precise characteristics of position marking have remained largely elusive. Recent studies have shown that space is involved in marking serial position of items in verbal working memory (WM). Furthermore, it has been suggested, bu...
The ability to memorize arbitrary sequences contributes to cognitive faculties like language and mathematics. Research suggests that in literate adults, serial order in verbal working memory (WM) is grounded in spatial attention and is mentally organized according to our reading habits, that is, from left‐to‐right in Western cultures. Currently, it...
Previous studies have shown that serial order in verbal working memory is spontaneously coded along the horizontal axis (i.e., the spatial positional association response codes (SPoARC) effect), with the initial items being associated with left and the last items being associated with right. These studies have led to the idea that when the cognitiv...
The aim of cognitive psychology is to obtain insights into human cognition in general. For this purpose, group-studies are typically conducted on representative samples so that the results can be generalized to the population. Using this approach, individual differences in such group-level cognitive phenomena are typically neglected and not much is...
How are the Flemish probation officers doing? A study into work-related
stress, coping styles, well-being and quality of life.
There remains a great paucity of research focusing on the well-being of Flemish probation officers. To address this gap in the literature, we report findings from an online survey in which 200 Flemish probation officers to...
The SNARC effect reflects the observation that when healthy observers with left-to-right reading habits are asked to compare the magnitude or to judge the parity of numbers, they provide faster reaction times (RT) to small numbers with left-sided responses and faster RTs to large numbers with right-sided responses. In magnitude comparison (MC), rig...
Working memory refers to our ability to actively maintain and process a limited amount of information during a brief period of time. Often, not only the information itself but also its serial order is crucial for good task performance. It was recently proposed that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition. Here, we compared performance of a gr...
The temporary storage of serial order informa-tion in working memory (WM) has been demonstrated tobe crucial to higher order cognition. The previous studieshave shown that the maintenance of serial order can be aconsequence of the construction of position markers towhich to-be-remembered information will be bound.However, the nature of these positi...
Cognitive control impairments may contribute strongly to the overall cognitive deficits observed in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. In the current study we explore a specific cognitive control function referred to as conflict adaptation. Previous studies on conflict adaptation in schizophrenia showed equivocal results, and, moreover, were pl...
Conversely to behaviorist ideas, recent studies suggest that introspection can be accurate and reliable. However, an unresolved question is whether people are able to report specific aspects of their phenomenal experience, or whether they report more general nonspecific experiences. To address this question, we investigated the sensitivity and vali...
In the domain of working memory, recent theories postulate that the maintenance of serial order is driven by position marking. According to this idea, serial order is maintained though associations of each item with an independent representation of the position that the item constitutes in the sequence. Recent studies suggest that those position ma...
The maintenance of serial order in verbal working memory (WM) is a major unsolved puzzle in cognitive science. Here we review a series of studies showing that serial order in verbal WM closely interacts with spatial processing. Accordingly, we outline the “mental whiteboard hypothesis,” which postulates that serial order in verbal WM is grounded in...
Cognitive control allows adapting our behaviour to improve performance. A behavioural signature of cognitive control is the Gratton effect. This effect is observed in conflict tasks and indicates smaller congruency effects after incongruent trials than after congruent trials. Metacognitive experience may play a role in this effect: when participant...
A largely substantiated view in the domain of working memory is that the maintenance of serial order is achieved by generating associations of each item with an independent representation of its position, so called position markers. Recent studies reported that the ordinal position of an item in verbal working memory interacts with spatial processi...
Number-space associations are a robust observation, but their underlying mechanisms remain debated. Two major accounts have been identified. First, spatial codes may constitute an intrinsic part of number representations stored in the brain – a perspective most commonly referred to as the Mental Number Line account. Second, spatial codes may be gen...
Introduction:
Cognitive control impairments have been suggested to be a critical component in the overall cognitive deficits observed in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Here, we zoom in on a specific function of cognitive control, conflict adaptation. Abnormal neural activity patterns have been observed for patients diagnosed with schizophr...
It is commonly accepted that the mental representation and processing of number and of space are tightly linked. This is evident from studies showing relations between math ability and visuo-spatial skill. Also, math instruction and education rely strongly on visuospatial tools and strategies. The dominant explanation for these number-space interac...
In a recent study, Kreitz, Furley, Memmert and Simons (2015) reported on a relationship between verbal working memory capacity and visuo-spatial attentional breadth. The authors hinted at attentional control to be the major link underlying this relationship. We put forward an alternative explanation by framing it within the context of a recent theo...
Working memory refers to an intriguing and essential problem in cognitive science: How does the brain succeed in maintaining information for certain duration and perform mental operations on the stored information? An important avenue in tackling this issue stems from the relatively well-defined domain of selective attention. The role of selective...
It has been proposed that the metrics of space, time and other magnitudes relevant for action are coupled through a generalized magnitude system that also contribute to number representation. Several studies capitalized on stimulus-response compatibility effects to show that numbers map onto left-right representations and grasp representations as a...
Spatial-numerical associations are observed when participants perform number categorization tasks. One such observation is the spatial numerical associations of response codes (SNARC) effect, showing an association between small numbers and the left-hand side and between large numbers and the right-hand side. It has long been argued that this spati...
A widely held view on consciousness is that it is related to the 'broadcasting' of sensory information to the whole brain [1-3]. Despite the fact that there is general support for this view, it remains unclear how exactly this broadcasting is established. It has been proposed [2,3] that thalamocortical circuits are an important mediator of such bro...
Rather than reflecting the long-term memory construct of a mental number line, it has been proposed that the relation between numbers and space is of a more temporary nature and constructed in working memory during task execution. In three experiments we further explored the viability of this working memory account. Participants performed a speeded...
For +- 30% of the outpatients who consult a neurologist, no disease is found explaining their symptoms (Stone et al., 2005). A significant amount of them suffers from functional symptoms. These are systematic deficits in the functioning of (parts) of an organically intact nervous system. Several examples exist, including muscle weakness and sensory...
It is well known that schizophrenia is characterized by a wide variety of social cognitive deficits. Typically these deficits in social cognition are believed to account for a wide variety of delusions and hallucinations. Problems in low-level social processes such as self-other integration may underlie these higher-level deficits. Research focusin...
Several psychophysical and neuropsychological investigations suggest that the processing of number and spatial information is strongly associated. A popular account argues that this association has its origin in the underlying mental representation of numbers taking the form of a horizontally oriented mental number line, which is isomorphic to the...
Brain damaged patients suffering from representational neglect fail to report, orient to, or verbally describe contra-lesional elements of imagined environments or objects. So far this disorder has only been reported after right brain damage, leading to the idea that only the right hemisphere is involved in this deficit. A widely accepted account a...
It is generally accepted that the mental representation of numerical magnitude consists of a spatial “mental number line” (MNL) with smaller quantities on the left and larger quantities on the right. However, the amount of dissociations between tasks that were believed to tap onto this representational medium is accumulating, questioning the univer...
A large body of evidence demonstrates that the processing of numbers and space are tightly related. Today, the dominant explanation for this interaction is the number line hypothesis. This hypothesis claimis that the mental representation of numbers takes the form of a horizontally oriented line which is functionally homeomorphic to the way physica...
We investigated interhemispheric communication and hemispheric style differences (analytic vs. holistic) in two-digit Arabic number comparison by employing the divided visual field paradigm. Interhemispheric communication modulated two-digit number comparison in a very specific way. While no advantage of interhemispheric communication was found wit...