For 1,0 fte

PhD Student Cognitive psychology f/m

Vacancy number 1.2011.00056 The Faculty of Psychology and Education employs about 290 people. The Faculty consists of 9 scientific departments for education and research. There are about 1850 students enrolled. The faculty is characterized by high-quality scientific research and by scientific education with special focus on academic training. Within the faculty an informal atmosphere with short lines prevails The Department of Cognitive Psychology of the Faculty of Psychology and Education at the VU University Amsterdam is currently looking for two PhD students (Promovendi/AiOs). The department is led by Prof. Jan Theeuwes and has a strong research record in the field of visual attention, memory, and eye movements, using state-of-the-art psychophysical, eye-tracking, MRI and EEG equipment. Research Project: Automated control in visual selection Perception involves mechanisms of selecting some and ignoring other information. We call this attention. We can control our attention in a conscious, voluntary way (e.g. by looking left and right at the road side), or it can be controlled by our environment (e.g. when an ambulance automatically draws our attention). This project investigates a third possibility: Attention may be internally generated, but highly automated and therefore not subject to conscious control. Such automated control may actually cover most of what is traditionally seen as voluntary control. This suggests we are like robots, but with the twist that we can program ourselves. Several studies will be run testing the idea that control of attention is indeed usually automated: that it is efficient, imperturbable by cognitive demands, inflexible, and unconscious. This way, we will ostracise the homunculus that still dominates many theories of cognition and conscious control. The project will be supervised by Dr Martijn Meeter and Dr Chris Olivers, who together have received ten grants (of which four Innovational Research grants), two APA Awards and one Teacher of the Year award. Requirements The candidate has (or will have in the near future) an MSc degree in cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, physics, informatics, AI, biology, or a comparable area. The candidate has a strong interest in experimental research in the area of visual perception, memory, and attention, good research skills, and excellent ability to write and read English. Experience with programming or scripting languages (for example C++, Visual Basic, E-Prime, MatLab) is preferred. The candidate should be able to start at the latest on August 1, 2011. Appointment and salary Appointment will initially be for 12 months. The starting date is flexible, but must be before November 1st 2010. After a successful evaluation the appointment will be prolonged for another 36 months. The employment will have to result in a written dissertation by the end of the fourth year. Payment will be according to the standard regulations for scientific personnel, from 2.042,- per month in the first year to 2.612,- per month in the fourth year (gross income, based on fulltime appointment). You will be based in Amsterdam. Information about our excellent additional employment benefits - including holiday allowances of 8% per year can be found at www.workingatvu.nl

Information Further information on the above projects can be obtained from Chris Olivers, tel: +31.20.5988974, cnl.olivers@psy.vu.nl and from Martijn Meeter +31.20.5988993, m.meeter@psy.vu.nl. Additional information on the department and its members can be found on www.cogpsy.nl. Application Written application accompanied by a CV should be sent to: Mw Barbara Goudriaan, Afd. Cognitieve Psychologie, Faculteit der Psychologie en Pedagogiek, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or per e-mail to b.goudriaan@psy.vu.nl. The deadline is March 28, 2011. Please mention the vacancy number. Note, the application procedure may involve more than one round and is likely to involve a presentation. Any other correspondence in response to this advertisement will not be dealt with.