MED LAB; Motivation, Effort, and Decision-Making lab

Duyser, F. A., Eijndhoven, P. F. V., Collard, R. M., Vassena, E., Koekkoek, B., Tendolkar, I., & Vrijsen, J. N. (2025). Measuring Self-Referent Memory Bias as Marker for Depression: Overview, New Insights, and Recommendations. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 47(1), 10. pdf
Silvetti, M., & Vassena, E. (2025). Getting surprise under control: Via active inference or meta-reinforcement learning? Physics of Life Reviews, 55, 229–231.
Tutunji, R., Krentz, M., Kogias, N., De Voogd, L., Krause, F., Vassena, E., & Hermans, E. J. (2025). Changes in large-scale neural networks under stress are linked to affective reactivity to stress in real life. pdf
Vriens, T., Vassena, E., Pezzulo, G., Baldassarre, G., & Silvetti, M. (2025). Meta-Reinforcement Learning reconciles surprise, value, and control in the anterior cingulate cortex. PLOS Computational Biology, 21(4), e1013025. pdf
Vassena, E., & Gottlieb, J. (2025). There’s no such thing as a free lunch: A computational perspective on the costs of motivation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 48, e47.
David, L., Vassena, E., & Bijleveld, E. (2024). The unpleasantness of thinking: A meta-analytic review of the association between mental effort and negative affect. Psychological Bulletin. pdf
Koolschijn, R. S., Polner, B., Hoomans, J. M., Cools, R., Vassena, E., & Den Ouden, H. E. (2024). Resources, costs and long-term value: An integrative perspective on serotonin and meta-decision making. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 60, 101453. pdf
Prutean, N., Vermeylen, L., Kukkonen, N., Steendam, S. T., Eayrs, J. O., Krebs, R. M., Wiersema, J. R., Vassena, E., Boehler, C. N., & Notebaert, W. (2024). Mind the instructions: Reward cues are liked first, wanted later. Cognition, 251, 105885. pdf
Alexander, W. H., Deraeve, J., & Vassena, E. (2023). Dissociation and integration of outcome and state uncertainty signals in cognitive control. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 23(3), 691 704. pdf
Devine, S., Vassena, E., & Otto, A. R. (2023). More than a feeling: Physiological measures of affect index the integration of effort costs and rewards during anticipatory effort evaluation. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 23(4), 1129–1140. pdf
Lambregts, B. I. H. M., Vassena, E., Jansen, A., Stremmelaar, D. E., Pickkers, P., Kox, M., Aarts, E., & Van Der Schaaf, M. E. (2023). Fatigue during acute systemic inflammation is associated with reduced mental effort expenditure while task accuracy is preserved. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 112, 235–245. pdf
Matthews, J., Pisauro, M. A., Jurgelis, M., Müller, T., Vassena, E., Chong, T. T.-J., & Apps, M. A. J. (2023). Computational mechanisms underlying the dynamics of physical and cognitive fatigue. Cognition, 240, 105603. pdf
Silvestrini, N., Musslick, S., Berry, A. S., & Vassena, E. (2023). An integrative effort: Bridging motivational intensity theory and recent neurocomputational and neuronal models of effort and control allocation. Psychological Review, 130(4), 1081–1103. pdf
Tutunji, R., Kogias, N., Kapteijns, B., Krentz, M., Krause, F., Vassena, E., & Hermans, E. J. (2023). Detecting Prolonged Stress in Real Life Using Wearable Biosensors and Ecological Momentary Assessments: Naturalistic Experimental Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e39995.
Brolsma, S. C. A., Vrijsen, J. N., Vassena, E., Rostami Kandroodi, M., Bergman, M. A., Van Eijndhoven, P. F., Collard, R. M., Den Ouden, H. E. M., Schene, A. H., & Cools, R. (2022). Challenging the negative learning bias hypothesis of depression: Reversal learning in a naturalistic psychiatric sample. Psychological Medicine, 52(2), 303–313. pdf
Edgar, N., Castanheira, K. D. S., Turner, G. R., Spreng, R. N., Vassena, E., & Otto, A. R. (2022). The neural basis of cost-benefit trade-offs in effort investment: A quantitative activation likelihood estimation meta analysis. Neuroscience. pdf
Otto, A. R., Braem, S., Silvetti, M., & Vassena, E. (2022). Is the juice worth the squeeze? Learning the marginal value of mental effort over time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(10), 2324–2341. pdf
Brolsma, S. C. A., Vassena, E., Vrijsen, J. N., Sescousse, G., Collard, R. M., Van Eijndhoven, P. F., Schene, A. H., & Cools, R. (2021). Negative Learning Bias in Depression Revisited: Enhanced Neural Response to Surprising Reward Across Psychiatric Disorders. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 6(3), 280–289. pdf
Janssen, T. W. P., Grammer, J. K., Bleichner, M. G., Bulgarelli, C., Davidesco, I., Dikker, S., Jasińska, K. K., Siugzdaite, R., Vassena, E., Vatakis, A., Zion-Golumbic, E., & Van Atteveldt, N. (2021). Opportunities and Limitations of Mobile Neuroimaging Technologies in Educational Neuroscience. Mind, Brain, and Education, 15(4), 354–370. pdf
Otto, A. R., & Vassena, E. (2021). It’s all relative: Reward-induced cognitive control modulation depends on context. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(2), 306–313. pdf
Paul, K., Vassena, E., Severo, M. C., & Pourtois, G. (2020). Dissociable effects of reward magnitude on fronto-medial theta and FRN during performance monitoring. Psychophysiology, 57(2), e13481. pdf
Vassena, E., Deraeve, J., & Alexander, W. H. (2020). Surprise, value and control in anterior cingulate cortex during speeded decision-making. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(4), 412–422. pdf
De Loof, E., Vassena, E., Janssens, C., De Taeye, L., Meurs, A., Van Roost, D., Boon, P., Raedt, R., & Verguts, T. (2019). Preparing for hard times: Scalp and intracranial physiological signatures of proactive cognitive control. Psychophysiology, 56(10), e13417.
Schrouff, J., Pischedda, D., Genon, S., Fryns, G., Pinho, A. L., Vassena, E., Liuzzi, A. G., & Ferreira, F. S. (2019). Gender bias in (neuro)science: Facts, consequences, and solutions. European Journal of Neuroscience, 50(7), 3094–3100. pdf
Vassena, E., Deraeve, J., & Alexander, W. H. (2019). Task-specific prioritization of reward and effort information: Novel insights from behavior and computational modeling. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19(3), 619–636. pdf
Vassena, E., Gerrits, R., Demanet, J., Verguts, T., & Siugzdaite, R. (2019). Anticipation of a mentally effortful task recruits Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: An fNIRS validation study. Neuropsychologia, 123, 106–115. pdf
Vassena, E., Van Opstal, F., Goethals, I., & Verguts, T. (2019). Striatal dopamine D2 binding correlates with locus of control: Preliminary evidence from [11C]raclopride Positron Emission Tomography. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 146, 117–124. pdf
Alexander, W. H., Brown, J. W., Collins, A. G. E., Hayden, B. Y., & Vassena, E. (2018). Prefrontal Cortex in Control: Broadening the Scope to Identify Mechanisms. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 30(8), 1061–1065. pdf
Silvetti, M., Vassena, E., Abrahamse, E., & Verguts, T. (2018). Dorsal anterior cingulate-brainstem ensemble as a reinforcement meta-learner. PLOS Computational Biology, 14(8), e1006370. pdf
Alexander, W. H., Vassena, E., Deraeve, J., & Langford, Z. D. (2017). Integrative Modeling of Prefrontal Cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(10), 1674–1683. pdf
Vassena, E., Deraeve, J., & Alexander, W. H. (2017). Predicting Motivation: Computational Models of PFC Can Explain Neural Coding of Motivation and Effort-based Decision-making in Health and Disease. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(10), 1633–1645. pdf
Vassena, E., Holroyd, C. B., & Alexander, W. H. (2017). Computational Models of Anterior Cingulate Cortex: At the Crossroads between Prediction and Effort. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 11, 316. pdf
Vassena, E., Kochman, K., Latomme, J., & Verguts, T. (2016). Unimodal and cross-modal prediction is enhanced in musicians. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 25225. pdf
Vassena, E., Cobbaert, S., Andres, M., Fias, W., & Verguts, T. (2015). Unsigned value prediction-error modulates the motor system in absence of choice. NeuroImage, 122, 73–79.
Verguts, T., Vassena, E., & Silvetti, M. (2015). Adaptive effort investment in cognitive and physical tasks: A neurocomputational model. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9. pdf
Sidlauskaite, J., Wiersema, J. R., Roeyers, H., Krebs, R. M., Vassena, E., Fias, W., Brass, M., Achten, E., & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2014). Anticipatory processes in brain state switching—Evidence from a novel cued switching task implicating default mode and salience networks. NeuroImage, 98, 359–365. pdf
Vassena, E., Krebs, R. M., Silvetti, M., Fias, W., & Verguts, T. (2014). Dissociating contributions of ACC and vmPFC in reward prediction, outcome, and choice. Neuropsychologia, 59, 112–123.
Vassena, E., Silvetti, M., Boehler, C. N., Achten, E., Fias, W., & Verguts, T. (2014). Overlapping Neural Systems Represent Cognitive Effort and Reward Anticipation. PLoS ONE, 9(3), e91008. pdf