Prof. Gilles Pourtois
Professor
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Institution : Ghent University
GENERAL INFORMATION
I am professor of psychology at Ghent University, Belgium, where I founded in 2016 and have led ever since the Cognitive & Affective Psychophysiology Laboratory (CAPLAB).
CAPLAB's research primarily focuses on emotional and motivational influences on cognition, with a focus on selective attention and performance monitoring. To address this question, we use standard behavioral and psychophysiological (e.g. EEG) methods in human adult subjects, who are tested in well-controlled laboratory conditions. After an initial focus on negative emotions, anxiety and defensive motivation, we recently have started to explore and better characterize modulatory effects of positive emotions on attention and performance monitoring.
These research efforts show that selective attention and performance monitoring are not encapsulated, but they are readily shaped by emotion and motivation to foster goal adaptive behavior. Ultimately, this research could also serve to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with specific affective disorders, including anxiety and depression.