Helena Olraun | Phd
Helena Olraun received her BSc in Psychology cum laude at Radboud University in 2020. Her Bachelor’s thesis project focused on the effects of internal and external attention on perception. Additionally, in her honours thesis project, she investigated the mediating effect of cognitive reserve on the influence of subclinical depressive symptoms on anterior cingulate cortex volume. In 2022, Helena graduated cum laude with a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from Radboud University. She conducted her Master’s thesis project under the supervision of Dr. Hanneke den Ouden and Floortje Spronkers, examining the effects of dopamine on meta-decision making in a large pharmaco-fMRI study. She then joined Roshan Cools PI group as a research assistant
Currently, Helena is working as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Roshan Cools and Wouter Schellekens. Her research is focused on the neural basis of working memory gating. The project will combine psychopharmacology with ultrahigh-resolution fMRI to measure the effects of dopaminergic drugs with fMRI at the laminar resolution, distinguishing neuronal activity within the different layers of the prefrontal cortex in humans.