Tom Smeets, PhD

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience

Maastricht University

P.O. Box 616
6200 MD Maastricht

The Netherlands

Office Phone:  +31(0)433884506 
Office Fax:      +31(0)433884196

tom.smeets@maastrichtuniversity.nl

 

 

 

Research Interests and Publications

 

(1) My primary research interest concerns the “Neurobiology of Learning and Memory”, with a specific emphasis on the modulating role of stress and glucocorticoids on memory performance.

Selected publications:

Cornelisse, S., Joëls, M., & Smeets, T. (2011). A randomized trial on mineralocorticoid receptor blockade in men: Effects on stress responses, selective attention, and memory. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 2720-2728.  (supplementary information: )

Taverniers, J., Smeets, T., Lo Bue, S., Syroit, J., Van Ruysseveldt, J., Pattyn, N., & von Grumbkow, J. (2011). Visuo-spatial path learning, stress, and cortisol secretion following military cadets’ first parachute jump: The effect of increasing task complexity. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 11, 332-343.  

Taverniers, J., Smeets, T., Van Ruysseveldt, J., Syroit, J., & von Grumbkow, J. (2011). The risk of being shot at: Stress, cortisol secretion, and their impact on memory and perceived learning during reality-based practice for armed officers. International Journal of Stress Management, 18, 113-132.

Smeets, T. (2011). Acute stress impairs memory retrieval independent of time of day. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 495-501.

Taverniers, J., Van Ruysseveldt, J., Smeets, T., & von Grumbkow, J. (2010). Realistic high-intensity stress elicits robust cortisol increases and impairs working memory in Special Forces candidates: A field experiment. Stress, 13, 323-333.

Smeets, T., Dziobek, I., & Wolf, O.T. (2009). Social cognition under stress: Differential effects of stress-induced cortisol elevations in healthy young men and women. Hormones and Behavior, 55, 507-513.

Smeets, T., Wolf, O.T., Giesbrecht, T., Sijstermans, K., Telgens, S., & Jöels, M. (2009). Stress selectively and lastingly promotes learning of context-related high arousing information. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 1152-1161.

Schoofs, D., Wolf, O.T., & Smeets, T. (2009). Cold pressor stress impairs performance on working memory tasks requiring executive functions in healthy young men. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123, 1066-1075.

Smeets, T., Otgaar, H., Candel, I., & Wolf, O.T. (2008). True or false? Memory is differentially affected by stress-induced cortisol elevations and sympathetic activity at consolidation and retrieval. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 33, 1378-1386.

Smeets, T., Sijstermans, K., Gijsen, C., Peters, M., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2008). Acute consolidation stress enhances reality monitoring in healthy young adults. Stress, 11, 235-245.

Smeets, T. (2007). Stressing memories: Acute stress, cortisol, and pseudo-memories.  Dissertation, Maastricht University Press: Maastricht.

Smeets, T., Giesbrecht, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2007). Context-dependent enhancement of declarative memory performance following acute psychosocial stress. Biological Psychology, 76, 116-123.

Smeets, T., Geraerts, E., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2007). Delayed recall of childhood sexual abuse memories and the awakening rise and diurnal pattern of cortisol. Psychiatry Research, 152, 197-204.

Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). Stress-induced cortisol responses, sex differences, and false recollections in a DRM-paradigm. Biological Psychology, 72, 164-172.

Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). The effect of acute stress on memory depends on word valence. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 62, 30-37.

Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., Merckelbach, H., Peters, M., Fett, A., Taverniers, J., Henquet, C., & Dautzenberg, J. (2006). Enhanced memory performance on an internal-internal source monitoring test following acute psychosocial stress. Behavioral Neuroscience, 120, 1204-1210.

 

(2). A second interest has to do with the question “What differentiates those who are able to adapt well to adversity (i.e., are resilient) from those who are not?

Selected publications:

Smeets, T. (2010). Autonomic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress resilience: Impact of cardiac vagal tone. Biological Psychology, 84, 290-295. 

Cima, M., Smeets, T., & Jelicic, M. (2008). Self reported trauma, cortisol levels, and aggression in psychopathic and non-psychopathic prison inmates. Biological Psychology, 78, 75-86.

Giesbrecht, T., Smeets, T., & Merckelbach, H. (2008). Dissociative experiences on ice. Peritraumatic and trait dissociation during the cold pressor test. Psychiatry Research, 157, 115-121.

Giesbrecht, T., Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., & Jelicic, M. (2007). Depersonalization experiences in undergraduates are related to heightened stress cortisol responses. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 282-287.

Smeets, T., Giesbrecht, T., Raymaekers, L., Shaw, J., & Merckelbach, H. (2010). Autobiographical integration of trauma memories and repressive coping predict post-traumatic stress symptoms in undergraduate students. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 17, 211-218.

Giesbrecht, T., Abidi, K., Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., van Oorsouw, K., & Raymaekers, L. (2009). Adversity does not always lead to psychopathology: Cognitive reactivity is related to longitudinal changes in resilience. Netherlands Journal of Psychology, 4, 62-68.

Giesbrecht, T., Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Leppink, J. (2007). Acute dissociation after one night of sleep loss. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 599-606.

Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). Reduced hippocampal and amygdalar volume in DID: Not such clear evidence. [Letter] American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 1643.

 

(3). I am also interested in various memory-related phenomena (and other things).

Selected publications:

Smeets, T., Otgaar, H., Raymaekers, L., Peters, M.J.V., & Merckelbach, H. (2012). Survival processing in times of stress. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 19, 113-118.

Markus, C.R., Verschoor, E., & Smeets, T. (in press). Differential effect of the 5-HTT gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) on emotional eating during stress exposure following tryptophan challenge. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

Heinzen, H., Köhler, D., Smeets, T., Hoffer, T., & Huchzermeier, C. (2011). Emotion regulation in incarcerated young offenders with psychopathic traits. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 22, 809-833.

Raymaekers, L., Peters, M.J.V., Smeets, T., Abidi, L., & Merckelbach, H. (2011). Underestimation of prior remembering and susceptibility to false memories: Two sides of the same coin? Consciousness & Cognition, 20, 1144-1153.

Otgaar, H., Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Verschuere, B., Galliot, A.M., & van Riel, L. (2011). Adaptive memory: Stereotype activation is not enough. Memory & Cognition, 39, 1033-1041.

Raymaekers, L., Smeets, T., Peters, M.J.V., & Merckelbach, H. (2010). Autobiographical memory specificity among people with recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 41, 338-344.

Hansen, I., Smeets, T., & Jelicic, M. (2010). Further data on interrogative suggestibility and compliance scores following instructed malingering. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15, 221-228.

Otgaar, H., Candel, I., Smeets, T., & Merckelbach, H. (2010). “You didn’t take Lucy’s skirt off”: The effect of misleading information on children’s memory omissions and commissions. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15, 229-241.

Otgaar, H. & Smeets, T. (2010). Adaptive memory: Survival processing increases both true and false memory in adults and children. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36, 1010-1016.

Otgaar, H., Meijer, Eh., Giesbrecht, T., Smeets, T., Candel, I., & Merckelbach, H. (2010). Children’s suggestion-induced omission errors are not caused by memory erasure. Consciousness and Cognition, 19, 265-269.

Otgaar, H., Smeets, T., & van Bergen, S. (2010). Picturing survival memories: Enhanced memory after fitness-relevant processing occurs for verbal and visual stimuli. Memory & Cognition, 38, 23-28.

Smeets, T., Leppink, J., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2009). Shortened versions of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale meet the standards. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 14, 149-155.

Smeets, T., Telgen, S., Ost, J., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2009). What’s behind crashing memories? Plausibility, belief, and memory in reports of having seen non-existent images. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 1333-1341.

Merckelbach, H., Smeets, T., & Jelicic, M. (2009). Experimental simulation: Type of malingering scenario makes a difference. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 20, 378-386.  

Jelicic, M., Smeets, T., & Peters, M. (2008). Detecting false memories with brain scans: A long way off, for now. In: I. van Keulen (Ed.), Brain Vision: How the brain sciences could change the way we eat, communicate, learn, and judge (pp. 388-396). The Hague: SST.

Jansen, A., Smeets, T., Boon, B., Nederkoorn, C., Roefs, A., & Mulkens, S. (2007). Vulnerability to interpretation bias in overweight children. Psychology and Health, 22, 561-574.

Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Smeets, T., & Merten, T. (2007). Tod auf dem Bahnübergang oder Wie eine geltend gemachte Amnesie forensisch begutachtet wird. Praxis der Rechtspsychologie, 17, 29-46.

Peters, M., Cima, M., Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2007). Did I say that word or did you? Executive dysfunctions and susceptibility to leading questions influence memory functioning but not source attribution in schizophrenia. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 12, 391-411.

Peters, M., Smeets, T., Giesbrecht, T., Jelicic, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2007). Confusing action and imagination: Action source monitoring in schizotypy. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 752-757.

Jelicic, M., Smeets, T., Candel, I., van Suijdam, M., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). No, I don’t remember seeing video footage of the killing of Theo van Gogh! Misinformation manipulations do not always elicit false memories. In: D. Canter (Series Ed.) & K. Nixon (Vol. ed.), Forensic recall and eyewitness testimony (pp. 21-25). London: IA-IP Publishing.

Smeets, T., Jelicic, M., Peters, M.J.V., Candel, I., Horselenberg, R., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). “Of course I remember seeing that film!” – How ambiguous questions generate crashing memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 779-789.

Horselenberg, R., Merckelbach, H., Smeets, T., Franssens, D., Peters, G.J., & Zeles, G. (2006). False confessions in the lab: Do plausibility and consequences matter? Psychology, Crime, & Law, 12, 61-75.

Jansen, A., Smeets, T., & Nederkoorn, C. (2006). I see what you see: The lack of a self-serving body image bias in eating disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 123-135.

Jelicic, M., Smeets, T., Peters, M.J.V., Candel, I., Horselenberg, R., & Merckelbach, H. (2006). Assassination of a controversial politician: Remembering details from another non-existent film. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 591-596.

Merckelbach, H., Smeets, T., Geraerts, E., Jelicic, M., Bouwen, A., & Smeets, E. (2006). I haven’t thought about this for years! Dating recent recalls of vivid memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 33-42.

Merckelbach, H., Peters, M., Jelicic, M., Brands, I., & Smeets, T. (2006). Detecting malingering of Ganser-like symptoms with tests: A case study. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 60, 636-638.

Smeets, T., Merckelbach, H., Horselenberg, R., & Jelicic, M. (2005). Trying to recollect past events: Confidence, beliefs, and memories. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 917-934.

Smeets, T., Candel, I., & Merckelbach, H. (2004). Accuracy, completeness, and consistency of emotional memories. American Journal of Psychology, 117, 595-609.

 

 

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

If you want to have a look at my CV, which includes a comprehensive listing of all my publications (including Dutch articles and book chapters, and conference presentations), click here

 

Last updated June 07, 2011


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