ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

We are visual animals. Seeing is our prime means for probing the outside world. Although vision appears effortless, we dedicate about a quarter of our most precious organ to this most prominent of all senses. The primary objective of this research programme is to develop a rigorous new view on how the human brain process visual information. This endeavour is based on two concepts: the methodological issue of necessity and the theoretical framework of cortical networks. In the last decades, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies have identified more than 40 separate maps in the brain that are selectively tuned to specific visual features, such colour or motion. Brain-behaviour relationships inferred from electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging are per definition correlational. We need neuropsychological research with patients who suffered focal brain damage to show us which brain structures are necessary. Only structures that, when damaged, have a selective detrimental effect on the execution of that function are necessary. Other structures that are activated during the execution of that function are merely involved in associated processes. Having established which brain structures are necessary for a specific function, the proposed research programme will investigate how these necessary maps are linked together. As a theoretical perspective, this programme adopts a critical position towards the “what and where pathways” model of Goodale & Milner, the current gold standard. The model postulates two major pathways, each involving a large number of maps; one for processing visuospatial information for motor programming, and one for visual recognition and memory. I have recently suggested an alternative model in which the maps are thought to be organised in multiple overlapping networks. This research programme entails dedicated imaging experiments and a large-scale, neuropsychological study involving four academic medical centres in the Netherlands.

2 499 139 €

Start date: 2014-07-01, End date: 2020-06-30

One of the important consequences of the Second Demographic Transition has been the increasing complexity of families. The aim of this project is to study how rising family complexity has affected two fundamental aspects of intergenerational relationships: reproduction and solidarity. Theoretically, family complexity is distinguished into four dimensions: (a) the length, timing and nature of exposure to the child, (c) biological relatedness to the child, and (c) characteristics of parent-parent ties (triadic effects), (d) characteristics of the wider family network. Using insights from several disciplines, I develop a common theoretical framework for understanding intergenerational reproduction and solidarity. To test the theory, an innovative multiactor survey is developed with an oversampling strategy in which for each adult child, information is collected on all parent figures, and for each parent, information on all adult children. In addition, register data are used to analyze one aspect of reproduction in a dynamic fashion (educational reproduction) and vignette data are used to analyze one aspect of solidarity in more depth (norms prescribing solidarity). By studying reproduction and solidarity as outcomes, I shift the traditional focus from examining how the SDT has affected individual well-being, to the question of how the SDT has affected relationships. In doing so, I analyze a new problem in demography and sociology and contribute to classic debates about population ageing and social inequality. Theoretically, the study of family complexity yields unique opportunities to test ideas about the nature of intergenerational relationships and will shed new light on the traditional dichotomy of social vis-à-vis biological bases of intergenerational relationships. Methodological innovation is made by developing solutions for well-known problems of multiactor data, thereby strengthening the theoretical relevance of survey data for the social sciences.

2 499 533 €

Start date: 2015-11-01, End date: 2020-10-31

Fathers have largely been neglected in parenting research -- although they constitute about 50% of parents. The aim of the proposed project is to test the hypothesis that fathers’ parenting is under hormonal control and can be changed by behavioral and hormonal interventions. I propose a series of randomized controlled trials (RCT) focusing on a critical phase of parenthood: the transition to having the first baby. I will test whether experiments that modulate oxytocin and testosterone levels enhance fathers’ neural processing of infant signals and of threats to the infant and stimulate fathers’ parenting quality and involvement in parenting. Drawing firm conclusions about the neural and hormonal basis of human parenting is critically dependent on RCTs. I propose two types of experiments: (1) within-subject trials, using nasal administration of oxytocin, testosterone, and a placebo, and (2) between-subject trials, using behavioral interventions aimed at promoting sensitive parenting and physical contact. The behavioral interventions include prenatal and postnatal video feedback intervention (in the prenatal phase based on ultrasound scans) and the use of soft baby carriers. Both types of trials take place 3 months before the infant’s birth, and 2 and 7 months afterwards. A special focus lies on the aspect of protection: a dimension of parenting that has received considerable attention in animal research but, despite its evolutionary importance, not in studies on humans. Testing the efficacy of the behavioral experiments in boosting fathers’ protective parenting and participation in caregiving activities has clear practical significance (for fathers, mothers, children, and society). At the same time, examining the hormonal and neural mechanisms is crucial for the development of theory on the interplay between neuroscience and parenting.

2 460 500 €

Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31

This project will create a new category of models that can be used for describing a wide range of spatial choice problems in the social sciences. Spatial settings often have a very large number of choice alternatives. Discrete choice models are used extensively to make counterfactual predictions based on observations of individual choices. Despite forty years of research, current spatial choice models still have two major generic short-comings that seriously limit their ability to make counterfactual predictions. The new category of models will address these two short-comings. The first issue is that substitution patterns between choice alternatives are very complex. The new models will allow substitution patterns to be specified in a general and transparent way. The second issue is that so-called endogeneity issues are pervasive, which violates the underlying statistical assumptions of common models and leads to inconsistent results. The new models will enable endogeneity issues to be dealt with in a simple way. The new models rely on a concept of generalised entropy and are related via duality to classical discrete choice models. A generalised entropy model, or just GEM, will be specified in terms of a transformation from choice probabilities to utilities. This idea is completely new. It is the exact opposite of classical discrete choice models and makes available a whole universe of new models. Early results suggest that GEM will enable the short-comings of the standard models to be overcome. The project develops GEM in three prototypical spatial contexts: equilibrium sorting of households, travel demand modelling, and network route choice. Classical discrete choice models are extensively used for policy analysis and planning. Replacing these by GEM will therefore influence a multitude of decisions across a range of sectors of great societal importance with environmental, economic and welfare consequences that reach far into the future.

2 500 000 €

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31