BSc Human Factors & Engineering Psychology

Supervisor: dr. Martin Schmettow

Topic for 3 students

Project Description
 Humans are unique among primates in having highly visible eyes, with a white region surrounding the pupil that makes gaze direction easy to perceive. This feature—often called cooperative eyes—plays a central role in social interaction, joint attention, and communication. Remarkably, humans can often detect when someone is looking at them even in peripheral vision and under poor visual conditions. This raises a fundamental question: why is gaze such a robust and effective signal?

This bachelor thesis project investigates the idea that the human visual system uses two complementary mechanisms to read eye direction. One mechanism is precise but works best when we look directly at a face. The other is coarse and less detailed, but it remains effective in peripheral vision and under degraded viewing conditions. The project explores whether this simpler mechanism may reflect an evolutionarily older way of detecting where others are looking.

Research Aims
 The central aim of the project is to test how well humans can detect gaze direction when visual information from the eye region is strongly simplified. Specifically, the project will examine:

• Whether people can detect when a face is looking at them in the visual periphery
• Whether strong simplification of the eye region reduces detection performance
• Whether gaze detection remains robust even when fine visual detail is removed

If simplified eye information still allows reliable gaze detection, this would suggest that humans rely on a very basic visual signal—mainly differences in brightness—to detect gaze, especially outside the center of vision.

Methods
 Students will conduct a behavioral experiment using computer-based tasks. Participants will view images of faces presented at different positions on the screen and decide whether a face is looking at them or not. In some conditions, the eye region will be shown normally; in others, it will be strongly simplified so that only coarse brightness information remains.

In addition, students will work with a simple eye-tracking setup to ensure that participants keep their gaze fixed during the task. This allows precise measurement of how gaze detection depends on where stimuli appear in the visual field.

Learning Outcomes
 Students will gain experience in:

• Designing and running psychological experiments
• Collecting and analyzing behavioral data
• Working with eye-tracking technology
• Connecting experimental findings to broader questions about perception, communication, and human evolution

The project combines elements of perception, social cognition, and evolutionary thinking, and is well suited for students interested in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, or human behavior.

Who Should Apply
 This project is ideal for motivated bachelor students who enjoy experimental work and are curious about how humans perceive and interpret social signals. No prior experience with eye tracking is required; all necessary training will be provided.

Supervision and Support
 The project will be closely supervised, with regular meetings and structured guidance at all stages—from experimental design to data analysis and thesis writing.

Understanding how we see where others are looking means understanding one of the most fundamental tools of human social life. This project offers the opportunity to contribute to that understanding through hands-on experimental research.

References

Bender, F.R. (2024) Evaluation of the low budget do it yourself eye tracking system: Your Eye Tracker (YET).

Michael Tomasello, Brian Hare, Hagen Lehmann and Josep Call (2007). Reliance on head versus eyes in the gaze following of great apes and human infants: the cooperative eye hypothesis. Journal of Human Evolution 52: 314-320

Supervisor: dr. Simone Borsci, dr. Russell Chan, dr. Nese Baz

You will perform a technical systematic literature review to inform the development of a system to capture LATE cancer effects in young and young adults i.e., late effects refer to health problems that occur months or years after a disease is diagnosed or after treatment has ended. Topic is in Partnership with Samsung UK and Politécnica de Madrid

You will design a low-level concept (digital/physical product) based on the outcomes of your review, and you will perform a set of focus groups with young healthy people to discuss potential interactive and adoption issues in using the phenotype approach.

The thesis will start with a list of long-term health challenges ('late effects') faced by young people after cancer, you will:

• Systematically review the literature to identify how each late effect can or does usually get captured by sensors.
• Based on this review, you will identify what can be feasibly captured using a smartwatch and a mobile phone, including the accuracy of the measures.
• You will then select a panel of measurable LATE effects that can be rapidly captured and tested.
• You will attempt to develop a digital concept, or, if possible, a physical product, with the help of Samsung.
• You will review the product, its usage, how it functions, and its acceptability with focus groups comprising a young, healthy population.

This work, on top of the PRISMA approach for review (probably building upon PRISMA-COSMIN for Outcome Measurement Instruments) will adopt a systematic approach to collect and analyse qualitative insights e.g., thematic and cluster analysis.  

Project for 2 students: 1 student will be supervised by dr. Simone Borsci and dr. Nese Baz, 1 student will be supervised by dr. Russell Chan and dr. Simone Borsci

Literature

Blom, J. M. C., Colliva, C., Benatti, C., Tascedda, F., & Pani, L. (2021). Digital Phenotyping and Dynamic Monitoring of Adolescents Treated for Cancer to Guide Intervention: Embracing a New Era. Frontiers in oncology, 11, 673581. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.673581

Supervisor: dr. Rob van der Lubbe

You will work together with a Master student on a project that focuses on neurocognitive aspects related to the Yerkes-Dodson law. Details of the tasks will be defined by the team that you will be part of. Goal is to measure the EEG from several participants and determine ERPs. Subsequently, you will examine what ERP components are affected by time pressure and task complexity and what this tells us about the Yerkes-Dodson law.

Topic for 1 student

Supervisor: dr. Rob van der Lubbe

You will work together with a Master student on a project that focuses on neurocognitive aspects related to task switching, where we will take the perspective of the Affordance Competition Hypothesis. Details of the tasks will be defined by the team that you will be part of. Goal is to measure the EEG from several participants and determine ERPs. Subsequently, you will examine what ERP components are affected by task switching and what this tells us about Affordance Competition hypothesis.

Topic for 1 student

Supervisor: dr. Funda Yildirim, Yue Li, MSc

The current research project is focusing on comparing cooperative and competitive behavior inside and outside of VR in context of prosocial behavior. The main aim is to determine whether human behavior is the same inside and outside of VR to inform future VR studies on whether VR can be used as an equivalent to real-life environments for behavioral research. On top of that, influence of cooperative and competitive behavior on prosocial behavior is investigated to further inform VR prosocial interventions. The experiment is 2x2 within-between subject design (cooperation vs. competition within-subject) (VR vs. Real-life between-subjects). Pairs of participants will take part in a VR or real-life treasure hunting game in which they will either collaboratively or competitively look for hidden objects inside a room. After each game, each participant will take part in the Dictator task in which they will be asked to split a monetary reward between themselves and the 2nd participant, indicating prosocial behavior. Further questionnaires are also given on demographics, role adoption, VR familiarity, and prosocial predisposition.

The project will be conducted by a pair of masters and bachelors student.

Supervisor: dr. Funda Yildirim, dr. Sarah Kusumastuti

In this project, the student will investigate how train operation by a human driver versus an automated system affects passenger stress levels and compliance with emergency instructions. Using a train simulator, participants will experience scenarios in which the train is operated either by a human machinist (driver) or by an automated system. The study will combine behavioral measures (e.g., response accuracy and reaction times to emergency instructions) with physiological measurements (e.g., heart rate and GSR) to assess differences in stress and performance across conditions.

Topic for 2 students

Supervisor: prof. Willem Verwey, dr. Rob van der Lubbe

This proposal for a bachelor thesis has been written by bachelor student Kim van der Hoek. She is looking for one other bachelor student to join her in this endeavour

Theory of Mind (ToM), also known as mentalizing, is the ability of an individual to understand the minds of other people, through ascribing mental states (reviewed in Bölte, 2025). For adult ADHD populations, research regarding occurring ToM deficits is divided (Mehren et al., 2021; Tatar & Cansiz, 2022). However, a mega-analysis by Hoogman et al., (2017) found various brain areas associated with ADHD to be decreased in size until adolescence (age 21≥), yet in some cases restored again in adults (age 22≤), suggesting that ADHD is a delayed brain maturation disorder. Interestingly, age ranges for ‘adults’ in previous studies vary, where Tatar & Cansiz (2022) did find behavioural ToM difficulties (M_age=21 SD=4) whereas Mehren et al. (2021) when looking at volumetric brain differences and behaviour did not (M_age=31).

These findings combined, could suggest that ToM deficits in ADHD adults do occur, but in younger adults. Furthermore, less research is available for female populations, which is needed with regards to differences in symptom manifestations of ADHD and social cognition compared to males. My research question is therefore: How is Social Cognition affected in biologically born female adults aged 18-21 diagnosed with ADHD, compared to biologically born female neurotypical adults? Here, I am interested in two domains: 1)to what extent do social-cognition related brain areas function differently in the experimental compared to control group? And 2)to what extent is social cognition affected behaviourally? Answering these questions is societally relevant in helping ADHD females gain understanding of their mind, benefitting their mental health.

Method

The experimental group consists of 14 biologically born females aged 18-21 officially diagnosed with ADHD, no comorbidities, if (ethically) possible without medication 24h prior as otherwise brain activity may be influenced. The control group consists of 14 biologically born females aged 18-21, neurotypical and not diagnosed with any mental disorder. Both groups receive the same conditions.

The neurodivergent population at the UT is high. I will reach participants through Sona, flyers, WhatsApp groups and before lectures. Participation obstacles are lowered by explaining the brain imaging process on the application form. I will not make use of the noise-prone Flexperiment rooms, instead using a fully enclosed, silent room, minimizing distractions that otherwise will impact the outcomes.

I will use either EEG or fNIRS to determine differences in brain activity for ToM related cortical brain areas. fNIRS has better spatial resolution than EEG, less sensory overwhelm to the neurodivergent participant (no gel), although it has slowed temporal resolution (6sec) due to it measuring blood oxygen levels instead of electrical brain current (Bazán et al., 2023). Brain activity will be measured during an advanced ToM task, as these are targeted towards adult populations (Bölte, 2025). E.g., Reading The Mind Through the eyes test (RMET), which lends itself to fNIRS but is argued to measure emotion, or Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) which differentiates ToM constructs (Baskak et al., 2019; Dziobek et al., 2006; Oakley et al., 2016). Both imaging and task results are analysed, in fNIRS/EEG software and R.

References

Baskak, B., Kır, Y., Sedes, N., Kuşman, A., Türk, E. G., Baran, Z., Gönüllü, I., Artar, M., & Munir, K. (2019). Attachment style predicts cortical activity in temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Journal of Psychophysiology, 34(2), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803/a000240

Bazán, P. R., Amaro, E., Bazán, P. R., & Amaro, E. (2023). fMRI and fNIRS Methods for Social Brain Studies: Hyperscanning Possibilities. In Social and Affective Neuroscience of Everyday Human Interaction: From Theory to Methodology (pp. 231–254). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08651-9_14

Bölte, S. (2025). Social cognition in autism and ADHD. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 169, 106022. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2025.106022

Dziobek, I., Fleck, S., Kalbe, E., Rogers, K., Hassenstab, J., Brand, M., Kessler, J., Woike, J. K., Wolf, O. T., Convit, A., Dziobek, I., Fleck, S., Kalbe, E., Rogers, K., Hassenstab, J., Brand, M., Kessler, J., Woike, J. K., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2006). Introducing MASC: a movie for the assessment of social cognition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(5), 623–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0107-0

Hoogman, M., Bralten, J., Hibar, D. P., Mennes, M., Zwiers, M. P., Schweren, L. S. J., van Hulzen, K. J. E., Medland, S. E., Shumskaya, E., Jahanshad, N., Zeeuw, P. de, Szekely, E., Sudre, G., Wolfers, T., Onnink, A. M. H., Dammers, J. T., Mostert, J. C., Vives-Gilabert, Y., Kohls, G., … Franke, B. (2017). Subcortical brain volume differences in participants with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adults: a cross-sectional mega-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(4), 310–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30049-4

Mehren, A., Thiel, C. M., Bruns, S., Philipsen, A., & Özyurt, J. (2021). Unimpaired social cognition in adult patients with ADHD: brain volumetric and behavioral results. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 16(11), 1160–1169. https://doi.org/10.1093/SCAN/NSAB060

Oakley, B. F. M., Brewer, R., Bird, G., & Catmur, C. (2016). Theory of mind is not theory of emotion: A cautionary note on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(6), 818–823. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000182

Tatar, Z. B., & Cansız, A. (2022). Executive function deficits contribute to poor theory of mind abilities in adults with ADHD. Applied Neuropsychology:Adult, 29(2), 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2020.1736074

Supervisor: dr. Cesco Willemse

Whilst acknowledging that robots are machines that act mechanically, humans readily attribute mental states to them. However, it is not yet clear whether interaction with humanoid robots is consequently underpinned by similar mechanisms demonstrated in inter-human interaction. In particular, we will be examining the role of eye-movements in establishing joint attention. The extent to which individuals follow (robot) eye-movements may be dependent on attributed intentionality, task-relevance, perceived helpfulness, etc. Therefore, we have been developing a triva quiz in which a robot provides non-verbal hints. We will likely be working with the Misty II humanoid robot so an interest in social robotics and in developing your programming skills would be beneficial for you. Other than that, the exact nature of the experiment is to be determined, thus this project has space to bring your own ideas to the table in terms of variables, design, and additional equipment.

Reading:

Emery, N. J. (2000). The eyes have it: the neuroethology, function and evolution of social gaze. Neuroscience & biobehavioral reviews, 24(6), 581-604.

Willemse, C., Marchesi, S., & Wykowska, A. (2018). Robot faces that follow gaze facilitate attentional engagement and increase their likeability. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 70.

https://docs.mistyrobotics.com/

Supervisor: dr. Russell Chan

Developing expertise in motor sequences is believed to rely on development of memory chunks for sequence representation. Yet, we don’t know whether learning is a linear process or that new states emerge spontaneously. To understand this, we apply the dynamical systems theory and differenterent nonlinear methods such as Hurst-Fractal scaling and Lypunov exponents to investigate the emergence of uniqute states during learning of complex motor sequences in a dance. You will learn to work with a multimodal MoBI (Mobil Brain and Body imaging) and perform high-level analyses that could lead to a publication.

Requirement: Existing scripts from previous students and pubblications will be provided but a student with some understanding of Python/Matlab and R and curious to be a problem solver to find solutions for unique combination of analysis of EEG and Xsens kinematics is supported with an explanation of the Xsens system, and provided with existing analysis scripts.

1 student

Primary supervisor: Dr. Russell Chan

Secondary supervisor: Dr. Cesco Willemse (tentative)

Readings links:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016125001700

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0966636217310457?via%3Dihub

Supervisor: dr. Russell Chan

Post-stroke rehabilitation typically focuses on repetitive physical therapy, yet "mind-body" interventions are gaining traction as a holistic recovery tool. While our previous research established that Yoga and Meditation significantly improve mental health (depression/anxiety) in stroke survivors, we don't know if these benefits translate to objective physical recovery and functional independence. To understand this, we perform a secondary analysis on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) dataset to compare physical outcome measures (e.g., balance, mobility, ADLs) between a Yoga/Meditation group and a Usual Care group. You will learn to apply advanced statistical modelling to clinical trial data, investigating if the "mind" can effectively help heal the "body."

Requirement: Student to be confident in R and curious to be a problem solver to find solutions for statistical analysis of clinical outcome data is supported with an explanation of the trial design, and provided with existing analysis scripts.

Primary supervisor: Dr. Russell Chan Secondary supervisor: Dr. Martin Schmetthow

1 student

Readings links:

Yoga and exercise for symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with poststroke disability: a randomized, controlled pilot trial (Chan et al.)

Yoga for stroke rehabilitation (Cochrane Review)

Physical fitness and function in people with stroke (Relevant outcome measures)