dr. E. Aarts (Esther)

Dr. Esther Aarts is an associate PI at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, heading the Food & Cognition research group. She obtained her master's degree in Medical biology (2004) and her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience (2009) at the Radboud University. She did a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley and returned in 2012 to the Netherlands with an NWO-Veni and an AXA Research fund grant. Her research - often financed by public-private grants - focuses on neural mechanisms of eating behavior as well as how the foods we consume impact our brain functioning, using functional neuroimaging. Many effects of diet on neuro-cognition happen through the gut microbiome and immune system, which is why she is currently studying gut-brain mechanisms, in particular in relation to dopamine-mediated motivational and cognitive control.
National Geographic and AXA Research Fund made a short video about her research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Yl-aU4gzE
Esther Aarts is also coordinator of the Food & Cognition research programme, which is a joint effort between the Radboud Campus and Wageningen University in realising a public-private innovation hub for a better understanding of Eating Behaviour and Targeted Nutrition for brain disorders.

• Perception, Action and Decision-making