Chantal Nederkoorn
c.nederkoorn@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Research
Why do some people find it so difficult to refrain from eating? My research focuses on the role of impulsivity (response inhibition and reward sensitivity) on eating behaviour. In previous research, we found that obese children and women are more impulsive on several behavioural computer tasks, compared to lean control groups. In addition, we found that impulsive people eat more during taste tests. This relation appeared especially strong when people are hungry: hungry impulsive people tend to eat large amounts of food and purchase much snack food in a supermarket, compared to lean hungry people. Impulsive people also gain more weight, but only if they have a preference for snack food. Finally, impulsivity appeared to hinder treatment; impulsive obese children lost less weight after treatment then low impulsive obese children. In sum: being impulsive appears a risk factor for overeating and weight gain, but especially when you are fond of good food.
My PhD thesis focused on the role of learned conditioned psychological and physiological responses in binge eating. When people smell palatable food, they start to salivate and their stomach starts rumbling. This has a function: the body prepares itself for food intake. However, when people frequently have eating binges, this adaptive response might turn out maladaptive: cues that become associated with an eating binge (emotions, situations, sight and smell of food) can elicit craving and a rumbling stomach. These learned responses make an eating binge difficult to prevent.
In collaboration with members of our eating research group, we explore the role of attention biases on body image. We investigated visual attention with eye-movements when people are viewing their own body. Further, the role of a self-serving bias in body image is investigated.
Teaching
Coordinator of the course “Research Methods in Psychology”, assistant coordinator of the courses “Statistics II”, “Research: how to do it” and “Paradigms and Skills in the lab”.
Supervisor of many bachelor theses, master theses and internal and external internships. Most subjects concern:
International publications
Jansen, A., Nederkoorn, C., Roefs, A., Bongers, P., Teugels, T., & Havermans, R. (in press). The proof of the pudding is in the eating: the validity of the external eating scale and the critical role of depression. International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Nederkoorn, C., Houben, K., Hofmann, W., Roefs, A., & Jansen, A. (accepted for publication). Control yourself or just eat what you like? Weight gain over a year is predicted by an interactive effect of response inhibition and implicit preference for snack foods. Health Psychology.
Jansen, A., Stegerman, S., Roefs, A., Nederkoorn, C. & Havermans, R. (2010). Decreased salivation to food cues in formerly obese successful dieters. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics,79, 257–258.
Coelho, J., Jansen, A., Roefs, A., & Nederkoorn, C. (2009). Eating Behavior in Response to Food-Cue Exposure: Examining the Cue-Reactivity and Counteractive-Control Models. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 131-139.
Guerrieri, R., Nederkoorn, C., Schrooten, M., Martijn, C., & Jansen, A. (2009). Inducing impulsivity leads high and low restrained eaters into overeating, whereas current dieters stick to their diet. Appetite, 53, 93-100.
Havermans, R.C., Geschwind, N., Filla, S., Nederkoorn, C.., & Jansen, A. (2009). Sensory-specific satiety is unaffected by manipulations of flavour intensity. Physiology & Behavior, 97, 327-333.
Nederkoorn, C.., Baltus, M., & Wiers, R. (2009). Heavy drinking is associated with deficient response inhibition in women but not in men. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 93, 331-336.
Nederkoorn, C., Guerrieri, R., Havermans, R.C., Roefs, A., & Jansen, A. (2009). The interactive effect of hunger and impulsivity on food intake and purchase in a virtual supermarket. International Journal of Obesity, 33, 905-912.
Verbeken, S., Braet, C., Claus, L., Nederkoorn, C., & Oosterlaan, J. (2009). Childhood obesity and impulsivity: An investigation with performance-based measures. Behavioural Change, 26, 153-167.
Coelho, J., Roefs, A., Nederkoorn, C., & Polivy, J. (in press) Eating behavior in restrained and unrestrained eaters after food-cue exposure: Examining the cue-reactivity and counteractive-control models. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors
Giesen, J.C.A.H., Havermans, R.C., Nederkoorn, C., Strafaci, S., & Jansen, A. (2009). Working harder to obtain more snack foods when wanting to eat less. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 13-17.
Jansen, A., Nederkoorn, C., Van Baak, L., Keirse, C., Guerrieri, R., Havermans, R. (2009). High-restrained eaters only overeat when they are also impulsive. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 105-110.
Guerrieri, R., Nederkoorn, C., Jansen, A. (2008). The interaction between impulsivity and a varied food environment: its influence on food intake and overweight. International Journal of Obesity, 32, 708–714.
Guerrieri, R., Nederkoorn, C., Jansen, A. (2008). The effect of an impulsive personality on overeating and obesity: Current state of affairs. Psychological Topics
Jansen, A., Havermans, R., Nederkoorn, C., Roefs, A. (2008). Jolly fat or sad fat? Subtyping non-eating disordered overweight and obesity along an affect dimension. Appetite, 51, 635-640.
Jansen, A., Vanreyten, A., van Balveren, T., Roefs, A., Nederkoorn, C., Havermans, R. (2008). Negative affect and cue-induced overeating in non-eating disordered obesity. Appetite, 51, 556-562.
Guerrieri, R., Nederkoorn, C., Stankiewicz, K., Alberts, H., Geschwind, N., Martijn, C., & Jansen, A. (2007). The influence of trait and induced state impulsivity on food intake in normal-weight healthy women. Appetite, 49, 66-73
Guerrieri, R., Nederkoorn, C., & Jansen, A. (2007). How impulsiveness and variety influence food intake in a sample of healthy women. Appetite, 48, 119-122 [Download PDF]
Havermans, R.C., Mulkens, S., Nederkoorn, C., & Jansen, A. (2007). The efficacy of cue exposure with response prevention in extinquishing drug and alcohol cue reactivity. Behavioral Interventions, 22, 121-135 [Download PDF]
Jansen, A., Smeets, T., Boon, B., Nederkoorn, C. & Mulkens, S. (2007). Vulnerability to interpretation bias in overweight children. Psychology and Health, 22, 561-574
Nederkoorn, C., Jansen, E., Mulkens, S. & Jansen, A. (2007). Impulsivity predicts treatment outcome in obese children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 1071-1075. [Download PDF]
Claes, L., Nederkoorn, C., Vandereijken, W., Guerrieri, R., & Vertommen, H. (2006). Impulsiveness and lack of inhibitory control in eating disorders. Eating behaviors, 7, 196-203.
Jansen, A., Smeets, T., Martijn, C. & Nederkoorn, C. (2006). I see what you see: the lack of a self-serving body image bias in eating disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 123-135.
Nederkoorn, C., Braet, C., Van Eijs, Y., Tanghe, A., & Jansen, A. (2006). Why obese children cannot resist food: The role of impulsivity. Eating Behaviors, 7, 315-322. [Download PDF]
Nederkoorn, C., Havermans, H., Roefs, A., Smulders, F.T.Y., & Jansen, A. (2006). Impulsivity in obese women. Appetite, 47, 253-256. [Download PDF]
Roefs, A., Quadackers, L., Werrij, M.Q., Wolters, G., Havermans, R., Nederkoorn, C., van Breukelen, G., Jansen, A. (2006). The environment influences whether high-fat foods are associated with palatable or with unhealthy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 715-736. [Download PDF]
Jansen, A., Nederkoorn, C. & Mulkens, S. (2005). Selective visual attention for ugly and beautiful body parts in eating disorders. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 183-196.
Nederkoorn, C., Smulders, F., Havermans, R., & Jansen, A. (2004). Exposure to binge food in bulimia nervosa: Finger pulse amplitude as a potential measure of urge to eat and predictor of food intake. Appetite, 42, 125-130. [Download PDF]
Nederkoorn, C., Van Eijs, Y., & Jansen, A. (2004). Restrained eaters act on impulse. Personality and Individual Differences. 37, 1651-1658. [Download PDF]
Jansen, A., Theunissen, N., Slechten, K., Nederkoorn, C., Boon, B., Mulkens, S. & Roefs, A. (2003). Overweight children overeat after exposure to food cues. Eating Behaviors, 4, 197-209.
Nederkoorn, C., & Jansen, A. (2002). Cue reactivity and regulation of food intake. Eating Behaviors, 3, 61-72. [Download PDF]
Nederkoorn, C., de Wit, T., Smulders, F.T.Y., & Jansen, A. (2001). Experimental comparison of different techniques to measure saliva. Appetite, 37, 251-252. [Download PDF]
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Nederkoorn, S., Rassin, E., Candel, I., & Horselenberg, R. (2000). Disgust and psychopathological symptoms in a nonclinical sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 1163-1167.
Nederkoorn, C., Smulders, F.T.Y., & Jansen, A. (2000). Cephalic phase responses, craving and food intake in normal subjects. Appetite, 35, 45-55. [Download PDF]
Nederkoorn, C., Smulders, F.T.Y., & Jansen, A. (1999). Recording of swallowing events using electromyography as a non-invasive measurement of salivation. Appetite, 33, 361-369. [Download PDF]
National publications
Roefs, A., Nederkoorn, C., & Jansen, A. (2008). De automatische verleiding van verboden vruchten. Gedragstherapie, 41, 183-198.
Mulkens, S., Fleuren, D., Nederkoorn, C., Meijers, J. (2007). RealFit: een mutidisciplinaire groepbehandeling voor obese jongeren. Gedragstherapie, 40, 27-48.
Jansen, A., Nederkoorn, C., Smeets, T., Havermans, R., & Martijn, C. (2006). Jij ziet, jij ziet, wat ik niet zie. Het vertekende lichaamsbeeld van gezonde vrouwen. De Psycholoog, 41, 518-526.
Nederkoorn, C., Guerrieri, G., & Jansen, A. (2006). Leven in luilekkerland. De Psycholoog, 41, 10-16.
Roefs, A., & Nederkoorn, C. (2005). Bespreking van T. van Strien, De afslankmythe. Maandblad Geestelijke Volksgezondheid, 60, 178-180.
Nederkoorn, C. (2001). Cue reactiviteit en de regulatie van voedsel inname. Gedrag en Gezondheid, 29, 5-16.
Nederkoorn, C. (1998). Waarom eten lijners te veel? (bespreking van: B. Boon, Why dieters overeat: on the cognitive regulation of eating behavior). De Psycholoog, 33, 566-567.
Co-promotor
Ramona Guerrieri (started juli 2004). Why the obese cannot resist tasty food. The role of motivational systems in eating behaviour and overweight. 2004-2008. Daily supervisor and co-promotor.Fellowships