dr. W. (Wouter) van den Bos

Scientific Background

I have a broad background in both neuroscience and developmental psychology and my research broadly investigates the relation between the developing brain and changes in behavior during adolescence. More specifically, my research is focused on how changes in brain function and structure relate to typical and atypical development of judgment and decision-making. To approach these questions, I use computational models and methods form experimental economics. These models are used to quantify behavior and the complex processes underlying decision-making. The parameters from these models support spanning the bridge between developmental theories and neurobiology, and enable to identify more specific processes that underlie developmental change. Using these techniques I have investigated the neurocognitive development of risky & intertemporal choice [1-3],  basic learning mechanisms [4], social decision-making [5], and social learning [6]. For more detail see Research or personal website

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

1. Laube, C., Suleiman A.B., Johnson M, Dahl R.E.& van den Bos, W. (2017). Dissociable Effects of Age and Testosterone on Adolescent Impatience. Psychoneuroendocrinology
2. van den Bos, W. & Hertwig, R. (2016) Adolescents display distinctive tolerance to ambiguity and to uncertainty during risky decision making. Nature Sci. Rep. 7, 40962
3. van den Bos, W., Rodriguez, C.A., Schweitzer, J. & McClure, S.M. (2015) Adolescent impatience decreases with increased fronto-striatal connectivity. PNAS.
4. van den Bos, W., Cohen, M.X., Kahnt, T. & Crone, E. A. (2011). Striatum-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity predicts developmental changes in reinforcement learning. Cerebral Cortex.
5. van den Bos, W., Van Dijk, E., Westenberg, P. M., Rombouts, S. A. R. B. & Crone, E. A. (2011a). Changing Brains, Changing Perspectives: The Neurocognitive Development of Reciprocity. Psychological Science, 22(1), 60-70.
6. van den Bos, W., Talwar, A., & McClure, S.M. (2013) Neural correlates of reinforcement learning and social preferences in competitive bidding. Journal of Neuroscience. 33(5): 2137-2146

1. Schepens J, Hertwig R & van den Bos W (2017) Aging of the Exploring Mind: Older Adults Deviate more from Optimality in Complex Choice Environments. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. 3082-3087
2. Tei S,Fujino J, Kawada R, Jankowski KF, Kauppi JP, van den Bos W, et al. (2017) Collaborative roles of Temporoparietal Junction and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Different Types of Behavioural Flexibility Nature Scientific Reports 7
3. Bradley E, Brustkern J, De Coster L, van den Bos W, McClure S, Wooley, J. (2017) Oxytocin Enhances Overbidding in Multiplayer Auctions Biological Psychiatry 81 (10), S408
4. Kamkar NH,  Lewis DJ, van den Bos W, Morton JB (2017 Ventral striatal activity links adversity and reward processing in children Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 26, 20-2
5. de Water E, Mies GW, Figner B, Yoncheva Y, van den Bos W, et al. (2017)Neural mechanisms of individual differences in temporal discounting of monetary and primary rewards in adolescents NeuroImage 153, 198-210
6. Laube, C., Suleiman A.B., Johnson M, Dahl R.E.& van den Bos W (2017). Dissociable Effects of Age and Testosterone on Adolescent Impatience. Psychoneuroendocrinology
7. Cardoos S.L., Suleiman A.B., Johnson M, van den Bos, W., Hinshaw S.P., Dahl R.E. (2017) Social status strategy in early adolescent girls: Testosterone and value-based decision making Psychoneuroendocrinology
8. van den Bos, W. (2017) Ambiguity Aversion. in Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, (Zeigler-Hill &Shackelford eds.)
9. Hanson, J., van den Bos, W., Roeber, B., Davidson, R. & Pollak, S. (2016) Early adversity and learning: Implications for typical and atypical behavioral development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
10. van den Bos, W. & Hertwig, R. (2016) Adolescents display distinctive tolerance to ambiguity and to uncertainty during risky decision making. Nature Sci. Rep. 7, 40962
11. Wulff, D. U. & van den Bos, W. (2016). Modeling choices in delay discounting.  Psychological science.
12. Leuker C., van den Bos W., (2016) I want it now! The neuroscience of teenage impulsivity. Frontiers in Young Minds.
13. Blankenstein N, Crone EA, van den Bos W, Duijvenvoorde A. (2016) Determinants of adolescent risk-taking: Risk, ambiguity, and the social context. Neuropsychologia
14. Laube,C. & van den Bos, W. (2016) Hormones and Affect in Adolescent Decision-Making, Recent Developments in Neuroscience Research on Human Motivation (eds. Kim, Reeve & Bong)
15. van den Bos W. & Eppinger (2016) Developing Developmental Neuroscience. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
16. Klapwijk, E.T, van den Bos, W., & Berna Güroğlu, B., (2015) Neural mechanisms of criminal decision making in adolescence: The roles of executive functioning and empathy. Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making.
17.  van Wingerden, M. & van den Bos, W. (2015) Can You Trust a Rat? Social Cognition
18. van den Bos, W., Rodriguez, C.A., Schweitzer, J. & McClure, S.M. (2015) Adolescent impatience decreases with increased frontostriatal connectivity. PNAS 112 (29): E3765-E3774
19. van den Bos, W.,  Rodriguez, C.A., Schweitzer, J. & McClure, S.M. (2014) Connectivity strength of dissociable striatal tracts predict individual differences in temporal discounting. Journal of Neuroscience 34 (31), 10298-10310.
20. Kuypers, K.P.C., de la Torre, R. ,Farre M., Dziobek, I., Sirigu, A., van den Bos, W., Kus, A., & Ramaekers, J.G. (2014) No evidence that MDMA-induced enhancement emotional empathy is related to peripheral oxytocin levels or 5HT1a receptor activation. PLoS One.
21. van den Bos, W., Jenny, M. & Wulff, D. (2014) Open Minded Psychology. In Introduction to Open Research Data (Moore, S. ed.) Ubiquity Press.
22. Güroğlu, B., van den Bos, W., & Crone, E.A. (2014) Sharing and giving across adolescence: An experimental study examining the development of prosocial behavior. Frontiers in Psychology 5: 291
23. van den Bos, W., Vahl, P., Güroğlu, B., Nunspeet, F., Colins, O., Markus, M. Rombouts, S.A.R.B., van der Wee, N., Vermeiren, R., MD & Crone, E.A. (2014) Neural correlates of social decision-making in severely antisocial adolescents. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 9 (12), 2059-2066.
24. van den Bos, W., Golka, P., Effelsberg., D., McClure, S.M. (2013) Pyrrhic Victories: The Need for Social Status Drives Costly Competitive Behavior. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7: 189.
25. van den Bos, W. (2013) Neural mechanisms of social re-orientation across adolescence. Journal of Neuroscience 33, 13581-13582
26. McClain, A., van den Bos, W., Matheson, D., Desai M., McClure, S.M., & Robinson, T. (2013) Visual illusions and plate design: The effects of plate rim widths and rim coloring on perceived food portion size. International Journal of Obesity 38 (5), 657-662.
27. Will, G. J., Güroğlu, B., van den Bos, W., & Crone, E. A. (2013). Acting on Observed Social  Exclusion: Developmental Perspectives on Punishment of Excluders and  Compensation of Victims. Developmental Psychology  49 (12), 2236.
28. van den Bos, W.,  Talwar, A., & McClure, S.M. (2013)  Neural correlates of reinforcement learning and social preferences in competitive bidding. Journal of Neuroscience. 33(5): 2137-2146
29. van den Bos, W. & McClure S.M. (2012) Towards a General Model of Temporal Discounting. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 99(1): 58-73
30. Bohl, V.* & van den Bos W.*, (2012). An integrative account of social cognition: marrying theory of mind and interactionism to study the interplay of pre-reflective and reflective processes .(Frontiers in Neuroscience Research Topic "Toward a neuroscience of social interaction")
31. Rutledge K.M., van den Bos W., McClure S.M., Schweitzer, J.B. (2012) Cognitive training for ADHD: Current findings, borrowed concepts and future directions Neurotherapeutics.
32. van den Bos, W*., Crone, E. A.*, & Güroğlu, B. (2012) Brain function during feedback-based learning in relation to IQ and education. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 2(1), 78-89. * equal contribtion
33. van den Bos, W., van Dijk, E. & Crone, E. A. (2012). Learning Who To Trust In Repeated Social Interactions: A Developmental Perspective. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 15(2), 243-256.
34. Tang G.S.M., van den Bos W., Andrade E., McClure S.M. (2011). Social phobia modulates risk sensitivity through activity in the anterior insula. Frontiers in Decision Neuroscience. 5, 142.
35. van den Bos, W., Cohen, M.X., Kahnt, T. & Crone, E. A. (2011). Striatum-medial prefrontal cortex connectivity predicts developmental changes in reinforcement learning. Cerebral Cortex.
36. van den Bos, W., & Crone, E.A. (2011) The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making: A Developmental Perspective. In ‘Neural Basis of Motivational and Cognitive Control’ (R. Mars, J. Sallet, M. Rushworth, & N. Yeung, eds.) MIT Press.
37. Güroğlu, B.*, van den Bos, W.*, Rombouts, S.A.R.B. & Crone, E. A. (2011) Dissociable brain networks involved in development of fairness considerations: Understanding intentionality behind unfairness. NeuroImage, 57(2), 634-641.* equal contribution
38. van den Bos, W., Van Dijk, E., Westenberg, P. M., Rombouts, S. A. R. B. & Crone, E. A. (2011a). Changing Brains, Changing Perspectives: The Neurocognitive Development of Reciprocity. Psychological Science, 22(1), 60-70.
39. McClure, S.M. & van den Bos, W. (2010) The psychology of common value auctions. In Attention and Performance XXIII: Decision Making (E. Phelps, T. Robbins, & M. Delgado, eds.) Oxford University Press.
40. Güroğlu, B., van den Bos, W., Rombouts, S.A.R.B. & Crone, E. A. (2010) Unfair? It depends: Neural correlates of fairness in social context. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5 (4), 414-423.
41. van den Bos, W., Westenberg, P. M., van Dijk, E. & Crone, E. A. (2010) Development of Trust and Reciprocity in Adolescence. Cognitive Development, 25 (1), 90-102.
42. van den Bos, W., Güroğlu, B., van der Bulk, B. G., Rombouts, S.A.R.B. & Crone, E. A. (2009) Better than expected or as bad as you thought? The neurocognitive development of probabilistic feedback processing. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 3:52
43. Güroğlu, B., van den Bos, W. & Crone, E. A. (2009) Fairness considerations: Increasing understanding of intentionality in adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104, 398–409.
44. van den Bos, W. & Güroğlu, B. (2009) The Role of the Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Social Decision Making. Journal of Neuroscience. 29(24), 7631-7632.
45. Güroğlu, B., van den Bos, W. & Crone, E. A. (2009). Neural Correlates of Social Decision Making and Relationships: A Developmental Perspective. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1167, 197-206.
46. van den Bos, W., van Dijk, E.,  Westenberg, P. M., Rombouts, S.A.R B. & Crone, E. A. (2009) What motivates repayment? Neural correlates of reciprocity in the Trust Game. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 4(3), 294-304. 
47. van den Bos, W., Li, J., Lau, T., Maskin, E., Montague, P.R., Cohen, J.D. & McClure, S.M. (2008) The value of victory: Social influences on bidding in common value auctions. Journal of Judgment and Decision Making, 7(3), 483-492.
48. van den Bos, W., McClure, S.M., Harris, L.T., Fiske, S.T. & Cohen, J.D. (2007) Dissociating affective evaulation and social cognitive processes in ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(4), 337-346.
49. Harris, L.T., McClure, S.M., van den Bos, W., Fiske, S.T. & Cohen, J.D. (2007) MPFC as an affective region especially tuned to social stimuli. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(4), 309-316.