Sanne de Wit graduated from the University of Nijmegen in 2002, and then received a scholarship to obtain her PhD degree at the Dept. of Experimental Psychology of the University of Cambridge. Her PhD project was supervised by Prof. Anthony Dickinson and concerned the associative and neural mechanisms mediating goal-directed action, habits, and response conflict resolution. She then moved on to a postdoc position at the Dept. of Psychiatry (2006-2008) to collaborate with Prof. Paul Fletcher on the translation of animal models to human psychology and neuroimaging. Since 2008 she works at the University of Amsterdam and has extended her research to include the study of impulsive and compulsive behaviour; first as a postdoc in the lab of Prof. Richard Ridderinkhof at the Dept. of Developmental Psychlogy, and presently as an Associate Professor at the Dept. of Clinical Psychology. 

Next to her research, she teaches several courses at the UvA and supervises students on research projects (see Teaching). She is also track coordinator of the Research Master Psychology and member of the scientific advisory board.

Other links

• Habit Lab

Media appearances

• UvA interview over VIDI-onderzoek: Van goede voornemens, goede gewoontes maken
• Cambridge press release: Compulsions lead to obsessions, not other way around
• NWO programme of excellence: The role of cognition and emotion in decision-making
• MindOpen interview: At the neural frontier of conscious and automatic control
• Psy interview: Dwangpatienten op de automatische piloot
• Kennislink artikel: De hersenroute der gewoonte
• Hoe?Zo! Radio: Wat bepaalt of je uit macht der gewoonte handelt? Het antwoord is te vinden in de hersenen

Research interests

My interests lie at the interface between associative learning theory, behavioural neuroscience, and clinical psychology. The overarching idea behind my research is that fundamental mechanisms of learning and motivation lie at the basis of decision-making and can give rise to adaptive as well as maladaptive behaviour.

Conventional experimental paradigms that require participants to respond according to instructed stimulus-response mappings are not suitable for the study of incentive modulation of goal-directed action. To overcome this limitation, I develop experimental paradigms that are direct translations from animal models. I combine behavioural analyses with a neuroimaging approach to investigate the neural underpinnings of actions and habits.

To investigate whether disruptions of fundamental learning and motivational mechanisms play a role in complex, clinical conditions, I collaborate with clinical researchers in the setting of, for example: obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction and obesity.

Current courses

• Bachelor course (Clinical Psychology) on Compulsive Behaviour & Addiction
• Researchmaster course on Scientific Writing and Presenting
• Researchmaster course on Learning & Motivation in Psychopathologies

Available research internships/theses

• See www.habitlab.nl for available internships

If you're a Master student and you're interested in contributing to this research, please email a letter with your motivation + your c.v. to: s.dewit@uva.nl .

Career

• Since 2014: Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 2011-2014: Assistant professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands      
• 2008-2011: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Developmental Psychology and at the Cognitive Science Center (CSCA), University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (in Prof. Ridderinkhof's Lab)
• Since 2008: Honorary Member of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge , UK
• 2006-2008: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge , UK (in Prof. Fletcher's Lab)
• 2007: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (part-time),University of Cambridge , UK (in Dr. Cools' Lab)

Education

• 2002-2006:  Ph.D. at the Department of Experimental Psychology , University of Cambridge , UK. Sponsored by scholarship of Merck, Sharp & Dohme.

            PhD Supervisor: Prof. Anthony Dickinson        

            Research topic: Associative and Neural Mechanisms Mediating Habit Strategies to Resolve Goal-Related Response Conflict in Animals and Humans              

• 2005: Visiting Researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of California , USA (in Prof. Balleine's lab)
• 1997-2002: Master degree in Biological Psychology , University of Nijmegen , The Netherlands

            During my study I conducted research internships at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , France , and at the University of Cambridge, UK. Next to my study, I worked as a student assistant at the Max Planck Institute of                    Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen.