Great news! Janna Cousijn (the head of the NofA lab) has received an €1.5 million Starting Grant from the European Research Council, which will fund the next 5 years of research on addiction and development in the lab. You can read more about the newly funded project below!
During adolescence, we see a sharp increase in alcohol and cannabis problems, but also remarkable recovery rates, as most adolescents at some point cut down or stop without treatment. Brain development probably plays an important role in this, and in particular the unique social sensitivity and learning flexibility of adolescents. However, we still know too little about this and comparisons between adolescents and adults are largely missing. Janna Cousijn will follow adolescent and adult alcohol and cannabis users for three years. She will focus on both social and cognitive processes and gradually develop new methods to map brain processes and behaviour. By studying similarities and differences between adolescents and adults, she hopes to uncover both common and unique mechanisms of addiction risk and resilience, that can ultimately improve treatment.
Want to ready more? Follow the link to the UvA website: https://www.uva.nl/…/eight-uva-researchers-receive-erc…