Mariska Kret
Professor Cognitive Psychology
- Name
- Prof.dr. M.E. Kret
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6359
- m.e.kret@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-3197-5084
Mariska Kret works as a full professor at Leiden University (Netherlands), Cognitive Psychology Unit and leads the Comparative Psychology and Affective Neuroscience lab (CoPAN).
More information about Mariska Kret
News
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Reinoud Kaldewaij awarded Veni grant to measure brain and body reactions to touch -
Want to help develop a Serious Game at Psychology Lab on Wheels? -
Looking for love: how we can fool ourselves when we are into someone -
What drives humans? How Mariska Kret manages to touch science with her emotion research -
Leiden University celebrates curiosity at 449th Dies Natalis -
Mariska Kret receives new science prize for groundbreaking research -
Four projects awarded science communication grants -
Bonobos, unlike humans, are more interested in the emotions of strangers than acquaintances -
Leiden researchers receive Ig Nobel Prize for research into romantic click -
Mariska Kret: ‘The arrogance of thinking we’re better than animals is downright stupid’ -
ERC Award for Mariska Kret bringing science to the zoo -
Zoo visitors can watch research into orangutan emotions -
European Grant for Mariska Kret's Virtual Reality emotion training tool -
Podcast: Animals have emotions -
Assume that animals have feelings too -
Young babies laugh like apes -
Scratching is contagious when solitary orangutans are in groups -
Aspasia grant for promising researchers in psychology -
Residents and researchers explore plastic and psychology in the city -
Five ERC Starting Grants for young Leiden University researchers -
Difficulty with emotions and lack of trust: Mariska Kret's Vidi research -
Pupil size of discussion partners reflects trust -
Vidis for nine Leiden researchers -
Male researchers mostly share their work with men -
Just Peace festival: celebrate freedom in The Hague -
Chimpanzees recognise one another from their rear ends -
Neuropsychologist Mariska Kret through to top 5 Science Talent
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Vote for a super-talented Leiden scientist -
Bonobos’ attention attracted by emotions -
Socially anxious people are interested in others
Agenda
Leiden Psychology Blog
Short CV
Mariska Kret works as a full professor at Leiden University (Netherlands), Cognitive Psychology Unit and leads the Comparative Psychology and Affective Neuroscience lab (CoPAN). She obtained a PhD in cognitive neuroscience in 2011 from Tilburg University. During her postdoc at Kyoto University she compared humans and chimpanzees on the perception of body language. With aid of a VENI grant from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO), she studied emotional mimicry on different levels (e.g. facial mimicry, pupil mimicry) and its implications for the establishment of trust.
Currently, she is working on her ERC Starting project where she focuses on the role of emotions in cooperation, and she challenges the common assumption that humans excel in cooperation, by making direct comparisons with bonobos. In a second main project funded by NWO (VIDI), she pushes this research line further and investigates implications for patients with autism and social anxiety disorder. Her research is characterised by a multi-method approach, ranging from fMRI, psychophysiology, virtual reality and eye-tracking to behavioral observations of humans or apes playing economic games during dyadic interactions.
More information
Prizes
2022
- ERC Public Engagement Prize – Involve. For involving the general public in science.
- Ig-Nobel Prize for our article Prochazkova et al., 2022 Nature Hum Behavour
Fellowships
2022
ERC- Proof of Concept E-VIRT. For the development of a VR-emotion training tool.
2018
- ERC Starting. From Mimicry to Trust: A Tinbergian Approach.
- NWO ORA. Production and perception of emotional expressions in humans and great apes.
- NWO VIDI. Trust and distrust through emotional mimicry. Implications for autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder.
2017
Templeton World Charity Foundation. Social intelligence in humans, chimpanzees and bonobos.
2015
NWO talent grant. The role of pupil synchronization in real life interactions: Implications for trust and deception.
2014
NWO VENI Role of Pupil-synchronization in Trust. Score: 1.7 (excellent). Awarded €250.000
2010
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral fellowship. Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, Japan.
Supervision
- 2022 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Ruya Akdag. Mind the Body: Investigating and targeting cognitive and affective mechanisms in youth social anxiety. Expected date of defense October 2026 (4 years).
- 2022 - present Principal supervisor of postdoc Marcello Gómez Maureira.
- 2022 - present Principal supervisor of postdoc Juan Olvido Perea Garcia.
- 2021 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Anouschka van Dijk. The perception of bodily expressions of emotion in autism and social anxiety disorder. Expected date of defense November 2025 (4 years).
- 2022 - present Co-promotor of PhD student Diana Kim. Conformation. Promotor: Bernhard Hommel.
- 2020 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Tonko Zijlstra. Mimicry of emotional expressions in humans and great apes. Expected date of defense May 2024 (4 years).
- 2020 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Chris Riddell. Mimicry of emotional expressions in adults and children. Expected date of defense May 2024 (4 years).
- 2020 - present Co-supervising research assistant Brenda de Groot (till 2021) and Roman Akyüz (from 2021) together with postdoc Dr. L. Mendoza Straffon, funded by the Templeton Foundation. Perception of “art” produced by modern humans and apes (adults and children), early Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus and Neanderthal.
- 2020 - present Promotor of PhD student Evania Fasya. Collaborative project with Twente University.
- 2019 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Fabiola Diana. The function of emotional mimicry and physiological synchrony. 3d place in Famelab. Expected date of defense October 2023 (4 years).
- 2019 - present Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Iliana Samara. The expression of romantic interest. Expected date of defense August 2023 (4 years).
Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Tom Roth. Tinder for orangutans. Expected date of defense January 2023 (4 years). - 2018 - 2022 Postdoc Yena Kim. Emotion perception in great apes. (4 years)
- 2018 - 2020 Principal supervisor of postdoc Jingzhi Tan.
- 2020 - 2021 Postdoc Milica Nicolic. Perception of emotions in autism and social anxiety disorder.
- 2019 - 2022 Postdoc Wouter Boekel. Physiological synchrony during dyadic interactions.
- 2016 - 2022 Principal supervisor of PhD student Evy van Berlo. The evolutionary roots of discrimination”. Date of defense May 19th 2022 (5 years).
- 2018 - 2020 Postdoc Amandine Lassalle. Trust and distrust through emotional mimicry. Implications for autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder.
Principal supervisor/promotor of PhD student Julia Folz. Trust and distrust through emotional mimicry. Implications for autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder. Expected date of defense December 2022 (4 years).
Programmers Evania Fasya and Maarten Struijk. Virtual reality. (4 years). - 2018 - 2019 Assistant professor Jorg Massen on Templeton project.
- 2017 - 2019 Principal supervisor of PhD student Xuejing Du. Evolutionary insights into beauty and aestetics. Quitted PhD to become a biology teacher in China.
- 2016 - 2020 Principal supervisor of PhD student Katharina Wehebrink. The perception of subtle emotion signals in anxious and depressed patients. Quitted PhD for clinical work.
- 2016 - present Co-supervisor of PhD student Yung-Ting Tsou. Emotion understanding in children with cochlear implants. Date of defense November 2020 (4 years).
- 2015 - 2017 Visiting postdoc Francois Quesque. With IBRO grant.
- 2015 - present Principal supervisor of PhD student Eliska Prochazkova. The role of pupil synchronization in real life interactions: Implications for trust and deception. NWO PhD talent grant. Expected date of defense Dec 2020 (4.5 years).
- 2015 - 2020 Principal supervisor of PhD student Friederike Behrens. Physiological synchrony and cooperation. Date of defense 28 10 2020.
Professor Cognitive Psychology
- Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
- Instituut Psychologie
- Cognitieve Psychologie
- Chair