Computational Neuroscience of Eating Behavior

For the NWO VIDI project ‘Mindset Matters: How mindset, body weight, and dietary restraint influence neural representations of food’, we are looking for a PhD student with a strong interest, and preferably experience, in both computational neuroscience and research into eating behavior.
BackgroundOur society is considered ‘obesifying’ because high-caloric foods are omnipresent. Yet, not everyone is overweight. A dominant view in the literature assumes that, in overweight people, the perception of high-caloric food firstly and automatically triggers their neural reward system, leading to increased food-consumption. However, empirical evidence is highly inconsistent with this thesis. This proposal’s central idea is that hedonic value does not always take precedence, but that it is a matter of mindset, for any person. High-caloric food perception intrinsically has a double-sided nature: These foods concurrently have a high hedonic and a low health-value. People’s mindset (hedonic vs. health) may vary—unbeknownst to the researcher—within and across participants, as well as within and across studies, complicating interpretations of study results.As mindset was often not considered in previous studies addressing group differences in reward processing, it may be an important contributing factor to the lack of consistency in the literature. The main objective of the proposed research is to unravel the exact cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in explaining differences in eating behavior and body weight. The effects of mindset, dietary restraint, and body weight will be jointly addressed.
Research methodYou will use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) during visual food perception with either a health or hedonic mindset. You will analyse your data using multi-voxel pattern-analyses (MVPA) and Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA), which decode information content in the brain, to answer the crucial question of how food is represented in multi-voxel patterns in the brain under different mindsets.
Your jobYou will further develop the designs of the studies that are described in the project. You will also be responsible for programming the experimental protocols and test the participants. You will be trained on how to use our MRI facilities. Next, you will analyse both fMRI and behavioural data, and publish your results in scientific journals, and write a doctoral dissertation based on your research. A first PhD-student has already started on the project (1-10-2016) and you will collaborate with her closely.
RequirementsA Master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, or data science.
A keen interest in understanding eating behavior.
Programming skills, preferably Matlab.
Experience analyzing fMRI data.
Well-developed analytical skills and creativity.
Excellent writing and presentation skills (English).
Conditions of employmentThe terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees
Temporary employment for 4 years. Your salary would be € 2.191,-- gross per month in the first year up to € 2.801,-- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-student salary scale.
Each year an evaluation will take place.
Contract type: Temporary, 4 years
Employerhttp://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/
Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 16,000 students and 4,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
Additional informationFor more information, you can contact the VIDI project leader, Dr. Anne Roefs, via e-mail: [Email Address Removed]
The preferred starting date of this PhD-project is between 1-9-2017 and 1-11-1017.