School of Psychology - Directory - People - Dr Pascal Molenberghs
Bachelor in Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium, 2001.
Master in Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium, 2003.
PhD in Medical Sciences, University of Leuven, Belgium, 2009.
I obtained my Master of Psychology (specialising in social- and neuropsychology) from the University of Leuven (Belgium). My master thesis investigated the influence of status and power on discrimination between groups. I also did a research internship at the University of Birmingham with Prof. Glyn Humphreys, working with transcranial magnetic stimulation and stroke patients who suffered from neglect. For my doctoral thesis (completed 2009), I worked with Prof. Rik Vandenberghe at the University of Leuven investigating attentional processes with fMRI and attentional problems with stroke patients. After my PhD I moved to the University of Queensland (UQ) as a Postdoctoral researcher to work with Assoc. Prof. Ross Cunnington and Prof. Jason Mattingley at the Queensland Brain Institute. Here I investigated the neural responses involved in the perception of actions and links between the perception and execution of actions using fMRI. Since 2011, I'm a UQ Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Psychology. My research focus at the moment is on attention, spatial neglect and the social neuroscience of group membership. I use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), activation likelihood estimation (ALE) brain imaging meta-analyses and neuropsychological testing in stroke patients to investigate these topics. Potential PhD or honours students interested in research in any of these topics can email me p.molenberghs@uq.edu.au .
Postdoctoral Research Officer (2008-2010), Queensland Brain Institute
UQ Postdoctoral Fellowship at the School of Psychology (2011-2013): A neurophysiological investigation of attentional reconfiguration during prism-adaptation treatment of spatial neglect ($303,504).
UQ Early Career Research Grant (2011): The Cognitive Neuroscience of Group Membership ($19,080).
NHMRC Project Grant (2012-2014): Efficacy of prism adaptation for recovery of brain function in unilateral spatial neglect - Jason Mattingley, Paul E. Dux, Pascal Molenberghs ($513,675).
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellowship (2013-2015): How do we become aware of stimuli in our spatial environment? ($374,973).
ARC Discovery Project (2013-2015): The neuroscience of group membership and its effects on action perception and empathy. Pascal Molenberghs and Jean Decety ($275,000).
1. Vandenberghe, R., Geeraerts, S., Molenberghs, P., Lafosse, C., Vandenbulcke M.,Peeters, K., Peeters, R., Van Hecke, P. & Orban, G. (2005). Attentional responses to unattended stimuli in human parietal cortex. Brain, 128: 2843-2857. pdf
2. Molenberghs, P., Mesulam, M., Peeters, R. & Vandenberghe, R. (2007). Remapping attentional priorities: Differential contribution of superior parietal lobule and intraparietal sulcus. Cerebral Cortex, 17: 2703-2712. pdf
3. Molenberghs, P., Gillebert, C.R., Peeters, R. & Vandenberghe, R. (2008). Convergence between lesion-symptom mapping and fMRI of spatially selective attention in the intact brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 28: 3359-3373. pdf
4. Molenberghs, P., Gillebert C.R., Schoofs, H., Dupont, P., Peeters, R. & Vandenberghe, R. (2009). Lesion neuroanatomy of the Sustained Attention to Response task. Neuropsychologia, 47: 2866-2875. pdf
5. Molenberghs, P., Cunnington, R. & Mattingley, J.B. (2009). Is the mirror neuron system involved in imitation? A short review and meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33: 975-980. pdf
6. Molenberghs, P., Brander, C., Mattingley, J.B. & Cunnington, R. (2010). The role of the superior temporal sulcus and the mirror neuron system in imitation. Human Brain Mapping, 31: 1316-1326. pdf
7. Molenberghs, P. & Sale, M.V. (2011) Testing for Spatial Neglect with Line Bisection and Target Cancellation: Are Both Tasks Really Unrelated? PLoS ONE 6(7). pdf
8. Molenberghs, P., Cunnington, R. & Mattingley, J.B. (2012). Brain regions with mirror properties: a meta-analysis of 125 human fMRI studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36: 341-349. pdf
9. Molenberghs, P., Hayward, L., Mattingley, J.B. & Cunnington, R. (2012). Activation patterns during action observation are modulated by context in mirror system areas. NeuroImage, 59: 608-615. pdf
10. Vandenberghe, R., Molenberghs, P. & Gillebert, C. R. (2012). Spatial attention deficits in humans: the critical role of superior compared to inferior parietal lesions. Neuropsychologia, 50 1092-1103. pdf
11. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2012). Seeing is believing: Neural mechanisms of action perception are biased by team membership. Human Brain Mapping, doi: 10.1002/hbm.22044. pdf
-> New Scientist – 31/01/12 – “Why you think your team is the best”- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21404-why-you-think-your-team-is-the-best.html
12. Molenberghs, P., Sale, M.V. & Mattingley, J.B. (2012). Is there a critical lesion site for unilateral spatial neglect? A meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6: 78. pdf
13. Morrison, S., Decety, J. & Molenberghs, P. (2012). The neuroscience of group membership. Neuropsychologia, 50 (8), 2114–2120. pdf
14. Molenberghs, P. & Morrison, S. (epub ahead of print). The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in social categorization. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, doi:10.1093/scan/nss135. pdf
15. Eres, R. & Molenberghs, P. (2013). The influence of group membership on the neural correlates involved in empathy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7:176. pdf
Abstracts
1. Molenberghs, P., Peeters, R., Thijs, V., Sunaert, S. & Vandenberghe, R. (2005). Stimulus competition and the intraparietal sulcus. Organisation for Human Brain Mapping, Toronto, poster presentation.
2. Vandenberghe, R., Molenberghs, P., Peeters, R., Van Hecke, P. & Mesulam, M. (2005). Generality of superior parietal involvement in spatial shifting. Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, oral presentation.
3. Molenberghs, P., Peeters, R., Thijs, V., Sunaert, S. & Vandenberghe, R. (2006). Between-hemifield symmetry of competing stimulus positions critically affects intraparietal sulcus activity. Organisation for Human Brain Mapping, Florence, poster presentation.
4. Vandenberghe, R., Molenberghs, P., Peeters, R., Van Hecke, P. & Mesulam M. (2006). Overlapping Versus Differential Contributions of the Superior Parietal Lobule and Intraparietal Sulcus in Remapping the Distribution of Spatial Attention. Organisation for Human Brain Mapping, Florence, oral presentation.
5. Molenberghs, P., Peeters, R., Thijs, V., Sunaert, S. & Vandenberghe, R. (2007). Convergence between structural lesion-symptom mapping and fMRI of selective attention. Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, oral presentation.
6. Molenberghs, P. (2007). Spatial Attention and Attentional Problems. UCLA, Los Angeles, invited presentation.
7. Vandenberghe, R., Peeters, R., Thijs, V., Sunaert, S. & Molenberghs P. (2007). Right intraparietal sulcus activity is modulated by the axis of stimulus configuration: Convergence between structural lesion mapping and functional imaging. OHBM, oral presentation.
8. Vandenberghe, R., Peeters, R. & Molenberghs P. (2008). Post-stroke deficits in cognitive control are associated with right inferior frontal lesions. International Stroke Conference, New Orleans, poster presentation.
9. Molenberghs, P. (2008). Attentional Processes and Problems. School of Psychology Seminar, Brisbane, invited presentation.
10. Molenberghs, P. Brander, C., Mattingley, J.B. & Cunnington, R. (2009). The role of the superior temporal sulcus and the mirror neuron system in imitation. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, poster presentation.
11. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2009). My team is faster than your team. HCSNet Perception and Action Conference, Brisbane, oral presentation
12. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2010) Seeing is believing: Neural mechanisms of action perception are biased by team membership. Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Melbourne, oral presentation.
13. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2010) My team is “30 ms” faster than your team or how inter-group rivalry changes the perception of action. Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Montreal, poster presentation.
14. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2010) Seeing is believing: Neural mechanisms of action perception are biased by team membership. Organisation for Human Brain Mapping, Barcelona, poster presentation.
15. Molenberghs, P. (2011). The role of the mirror neuron system in bridging the gap between self and others. 19th Brisbane Symposium on Self and Identity. Brisbane, invited presentation.
16. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2011) Seeing is believing: Neural mechanisms of action perception are biased by team membership. Colloquium on the Neuroscience of Prejudice, Amsterdam, poster presentation.
17. Molenberghs, P., Halász, V., Mattingley, J.B., Vanman, E.J. & Cunnington, R. (2011) Seeing is believing: Neural mechanisms of action perception are biased by team membership. Society for Social Neuroscience, Washington, poster presentation.
18. Molenberghs, P., Hayward, L., Mattingley, J.B. & Cunnington, R. (2011). Activation patterns during action observation are modulated by context in mirror system areas. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, poster presentation.
19. Molenberghs, P., Decety, J. & Morrison, S. (2012). The Neuroscience of Group Membership. Human Brain Mapping, Beijing, poster presentation.
20. Molenberghs, P., Morrison, S. & Decety, J. (2012).The representation of group membership concepts, Society for Social Neuroscience, New Orleans, oral presentation.
21. Molenberghs, P., Sale, M. & & Mattingley, J.B. (2012). Is there a critical lesion site for unilateral spatial neglect? A meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation,Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, poster presentation.
I have several places for highly motivated students who are interested in one of the following topics:
1) fMRI on topics in Social Neuroscience or Attention. Students will get the opportunity to learn how to collect and/or analyse functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. Students will have the rare opportunity to have access to this amazing technique which we use to look at brain activity in humans. We are lucky to have a new 3T MRI scanner on campus which we can use.
2) Brain imaging meta-analysis on topics in Social Neuroscience or Attention. Students will learn Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis technique to look at consistent brain activation across different imaging studies.
3) Testing patients that suffered from a stroke with neuropsychological or neuroimaging techniques.
Students that are interested in learning more about these projects can contact me by email: p.molenberghs@uq.edu.au.
