Acknowledgments

Despite my wishful thinking over the past five years, PhD theses don’t write themselves—PhD students do. But PhD students certainly don’t do so by themselves. There’s a long list of people without whom this thesis would not exist, or would at least be worse off. Or more importantly: without whom its author would be worse off. I’m finding it much harder than expected to do justice to all of these contributions. But so was writing the thesis, and apparently I didn’t let that stop me either.

First and foremost, Heleen, my primary adviser. Not just for this PhD project, but ever since my first foray into science during my Master’s. How different things could have been if you had not taken me on as an intern back then (which indeed almost didn’t happen, as you actually had no spots open, but were only compelled by the fact that I happened to get a good grade in one of the courses you taught). I probably would not have done a PhD at all if you hadn’t seen something in me, and offered me the spot on the grant you planned to write to fund a PhD position. We got that grant, and the rest is history. A lot has changed since then: I’ve seen your lab evolve from a one-woman-operation to an ever-growing band of PhD students and postdocs, split across two universities. But, incredibly, you have not fundamentally changed as a supervisor. Despite the increased demands on your time, I feel you’ve still always put me first, even if that means providing feedback in the wee hours of the morning and the night. I’m equally impressed by your quick wits, your openness to new ideas, and your unrivaled ability to communicate those ideas clearly. Your scientific brilliance has been invaluable to my PhD, but equally invaluable is your recognition that science is not always all that matters in life. PhD projects are never easy, but I dread to imagine what it would’ve been like without the support and freedom you’ve granted me over the years.

Richard, while we haven’t been able to collaborate very intensively, I still very much valued having you on board. I suppose you knew from the start I would be in good hands with Heleen, but for those moments where she and I would both throw up our hands, having a second supervisor has been a true privilege. Perhaps your relative distance from the day-to-day of my PhD was even a plus, as you never failed to deliver sound advice and to put things in perspective. Aside from your wisdom and wealth of experience, I also appreciated your infectiously optimistic outlook. The yearly progress evaluations always sparked a tiny existential crisis in me, but thanks to you, I always left the room with higher spirits than when I entered.

I felt the same whenever I had a chat with my unofficial PhD mentor Simon van Gaal about academia (or anything else on my mind). If you’re reading this and you don’t have a mentor: find one, and make more of an effort to learn from them than I have.

Finally, I’d also like to extend my gratitude towards the members of my defense committee: prof. dr. Monicque Lorist, prof. dr. Birte Forstmann, prof. dr. Hilde Huizenga, prof. dr. Victor Lamme, dr. Ilja Sligte and dr. Wery van den Wildenberg. I’m honored that you all were willing to dedicate so much time to vetting my thesis, and to discuss your thoughts with me at the defense.

Besides these “officials” that are essential to any PhD thesis, many others have been essential to mine (also see the Contributions to the Chapters section).

First of all, my co-authors. Had Rudy and Sam not paved the way, Chapter 6 would not have even existed. Chapter 3 would not have been the same without Tomas, whose expertise of and enthusiasm for eye movements (or anything science-y, really) is unparalleled.

Then there are all the interns who spent some time of their Bachelor’s or Master’s program to setup the studies, collect the data, and write reports on the results. Helen, Irene, Lionel, Floris, Floortje, Monja, Daphne and Esther: I wish your hard work could be summarized with a more exciting soundbite than: “it’s complicated”. But for a realistic peek at what it’s like to work in science (an exciting, but bumpy road), and for the scientific literature (decidedly lacking in “bumpiness”), perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.

I am indebted to all the participants in my experiments, who slaved away to provide the data on which this thesis is based, for a few research credits or euro’s. The tasks that participants have to complete in a typical attention study are not exactly riveting, as we researchers like to keep them as controlled (read: boring) as possible. Adding insult to injury, in these particular experiments participants had to perform these tasks for 80 minutes without breaks (Chapter 6), while sitting extremely still to not jeopardize the EEG recordings (Chapters 4, 5, and 6), and/or endure the annoying sensations that come with brain stimulation (Chapters 3, 4, and 5). Thanks for offering your brains and minds to science.

I should also briefly mention the unsung heroes of the university staff: The technical support (especially from Jasper Wijnen, Marcus Spaan and Bert Molenkamp) who shave at least a year off every PhD; the group leaders (Jeroen Raaijmakers and Jaap Murre) for allowing me to extend my contract in return for some teaching; the education coordinators (especially Manon Slockers and Ien van den Berg) who significantly reduced the stress induced by said teaching, and the secretaries (Hubert Eleonora, Ingrid van Grieken and Lilian Heijmans) that facilitated all of this.

To my lab mates that have come and gone over the years (Martine, Fleur, Dirk, Ruben, Evert, Josipa, Valentina, Jim, and “OGs” Marlies and Lotte): thanks for all the support, feedback, and general good times in the Cognition & Plasticity lab. More generally, the Brain and Cognition group at the UvA Psychology department have been the best bunch of colleagues I could wish for. This is my first proper job, but you guys have set the bar so high that I’m afraid it’s going to be all downhill from here.

I’m very lucky to have two paranymphs that are fellow PhD students—who can personally relate to the ups and downs—but who I might have asked to be paranymphs just as well otherwise.

Thomas, we bewandelen al sinds de bachelor min of meer hetzelfde pad, en hebben vooral tijdens de master en de PhD veel beleefd samen. Ik kan me eigenlijk niemand anders voorstellen om dit deel van mijn leven mee af te sluiten.

Lynn, even if nothing of value came from this PhD, I’d do it all over again, just because I would have never met you otherwise. I still regularly cannot believe how lucky I am to have you in my life, and don’t think I ever will.

Guys, I cannot wait to celebrate twice more in the near future!

In closing, back to where it all started—with my parents.

Gerard, dit proefschrift was letterlijk niet hetzelfde geweest zonder jou; bedankt voor je hulp bij de samenvatting. Maar je immateriële bijdrage was vele malen belangrijker: ik was nooit zover gekomen zonder je belangstelling en rotsvaste vertrouwen in alles wat ik doe.

Ineke, bij elke nieuwe mijlpaal doet het weer pijn dat je er niet meer bij kan zijn. Maar die pijn valt ongetwijfeld in het niet bij de trots die je zou voelen dat je zoon een boek heeft geschreven.