Maurits van der Molen graduated in Clinical Psychology and Psychonomics in 1976 at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He received his PhD in 1981 at the same university and then moved to the University of Amsterdam. Here he held several positions in Developmental Psychology at the Department of Psychology; from assistant to full professor in Developmental Psychology. He was visiting professor at the University of Montreal, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and La Sapienza, Rome. He was associate editor of Psychophysiology and managing editor of Acta Psychologica. He has been scientific director of the Graduate School in Experimental Psychology ( EPOS ), coordinator of the Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam (CSCA, now ABC), president of the European Federation of Psychophysiological Societies ( FEPS ) and president of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN). Currently, he is professor emeritus.
The primary focus is on executive function (cognitive control), its rise during development, its decline during senescence, and its disturbances in childhood psychopathology. The research is directed at dissecting executive function into component processes, tracking their change with advancing age, and determining the neural mechanisms underlying this change. A related focus is on temporal prediction and preparation using fast-process performance paradigms and indices derived from electro-cortical and autonomic activity. A current focus is on the autonomic and neural correlates of social rejection and exclusion during development.
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