Internships

We welcome national and international students who wish to undertake a research internship in our lab.

There are many projects in social neuroscience running in the lab, offering numerous opportunities for interns. We support interns who wish to apply for grants, such as ERASMUS+. Additionally, the faculty provides support to international students, which you can learn more about here: https://www.ugent.be/pp/en/exchange-students#Contact

Below, you will find some internship positions that will open in the coming months. If you are interested, please contact us and send your CV and a motivation letter. The duration of the internship must be agreed upon with the responsible researcher and the head of the lab. Depending on the length of the internship, interns may be given varying levels of autonomy to conduct research projects, either independently or under guidance. Typically, research internships last between 3 and 9 months. Most of the internships are in English, but some internships with special populations such as inmates/prison guards require knowing French and/or Dutch. If you are interested, please send your CV and a motivation letter to Emilie.Caspar@Ugent.be, along with the proposed topic, the expected start and end dates of the internship, and the type of financial support you may have access to.

Please note that internship positions in Belgium are unpaid, as they are part of the standard Master’s curriculum. Before applying, make sure you can cover your stay through a grant, such as the Erasmus+ program.

Internship #2: Impact of social exclusion on ex-prisoners’ sense of agency and empathy for pain

As prison has deleterious effects on prisoners’ social bonds, and because ex-prisoners constitute a stigmatized group facing discrimination, they may be at a greater risk of social exclusion (De Beaurepaire, 2012; Kyprianides et al., 2019). However, since humans are inherently social beings, social exclusion can have powerful effects as it threatens fundamental needs such as the need for control and for a meaningful existence (Williams, 2009). Previous studies have shown that such a perceived threat to these needs can lead to aggressive and antisocial behavior towards others (Ren et al., 2018). Furthermore, social exclusion could also reduce the sense of agency (Malik & Obhi, 2019) and empathy for pain (Fan et al., 2021), which are two key neurocognitive processes underlying social behaviors. In this study, we will investigate the impact of an induced social exclusion episode on the sense of agency, empathy for pain, and antisocial behaviors among ex-prisoners and control participants. For this purpose, EEG, behavioral and self-reported data will be collected. French will be necessary for this internship, as it is the main language of the target population.

Internship #3: Turning a blind eye: using immersive virtual reality (IVR) and neurophysiology to investigate bystander intervention and whistleblowing when prison guards witness violent misconduct by colleagues

This mixed-methods study will examine how prison guards and inmates perceive—and respond to—misconduct by both inmates and officers, and which individual and organizational factors predict a guard’s self-reported likelihood to intervene or report. In Phase 1, semi-structured interviews (in Flemish and French) with inmates and guards will generate a comprehensive inventory of misconduct behaviors and refine illustrative scenarios. In Phase 2, a separate sample of guards will rate each scenario on frequency, perceived severity, willingness to intervene, and willingness to report; they will also complete validated measures of demographics, personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, Machiavellianism), empathy, self-efficacy, procedural/distributive justice perceptions, and supervisor support. Quantitative modeling will identify key predictors of intervention and reporting, drawing on bystander intervention, whistleblowing, and counterproductive work behavior frameworks. Finally, focus groups will translate the most prevalent and impactful scenarios into scripts for immersive virtual-reality simulations to be used in later stages of the project. By uncovering the traits and cultural pressures that keep guards from speaking up, this study will inform practical strategies to encourage reporting and help correctional staff uphold high ethical standards on the job. French and or Dutch will be considered as asset for this position.

Internship #4: Norm violation detection, empathy, and third-party punishment

Social norms help maintain social cohesion. In human societies, the violation of norms can be punished to re-establish social order. In third-party punishment (TPP), the transgressive behavior is sanctioned by an individual not directly affected by the norm violation (e.g.: judges and jurors in criminal contexts). This project aims to develop a paradigm involving social norms violations and intergroup interactions. The objective of this project is twofold: first, we will investigate to what extent electrocortical markers of norm-violation detection are influenced by the socioeconomic status of the victim and norm transgressor and whether and how they are linked to the subsequent determination of punishment. Second, we will investigate whether and how empathic concern towards the norm transgressor influences electrocortical markers of norm violation detection. We will use both behavioral and EEG measurements. English and/or French will be necessary for this internship, as it is the main language of the target population.

Internship #5: Intergroup biases towards ex-detainees in prison guards. An EEG Study

Working in prison presents a unique and strict environment. However, little is known about its impact on the social interactions between prison guards and prisoners. Intergroup bias, a well- studied phenomenon in social psychology, influences social decisions, often leading to either prosocial or antisocial behavior. We will be focusing on the pro-/anti-social decision-making of prison guards by using a modified version of the Intended Prosociality Task, combining neural and behavioral recordings. This research aims primarily to understand the impact of working in prison on bias towards prisoners, as well as its interaction with self-control and perception of life quality. Shedding light on the social dynamics between prison staff and prisoners could provide meaningful insights, especially in the current context, where the working conditions of prison guards in Belgium are deteriorating due to overcrowding, aggression, and staffing shortage, leading to strikes which in turn affect the inmate’s population. French will be necessary for this internship, as it is the main language of the target population.

Internship #6: Individual differences in resistance to immoral orders

Imagine a situation where someone orders you to do something immoral. Would you comply, or would you disobey? Some people are more likely to disobey those orders than others. This is called prosocial disobedience, meaning that they will not allow being coerced into causing pain to another person. Some cognitive processes, such as feeling of responsibility or sense of agency were already identified using different imaging studies (e.g. Caspar et al., 2021a). Milgram’s experiments on obedience have shown that situational and social factors play a role when it comes to obedience. Caspar et al. (2021b) introduced a new paradigm that eliminated the need for cover stories, and which is adaptable to neuroscientific methods to investigate disobedience, giving the field a new boost. Individual differences that could support disobedience have not yet been invested thoroughly. In this project, you will investigate individual differences that could help explain the difference in disobedience to immoral orders that exists between people.

Internship #7: Error Processing and Brain-Computer Interface

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have revolutionized the field of neuroscience by enabling direct communication between the human brain and external devices. As the development and application of BCIs continue to advance, it becomes increasingly important to explore the implications for the notion of responsibility. When errors are made by a brain-computer interface, understanding how the brain processes and perceives these errors is crucial (O’Brolchain & Gordijn, 2014). However, despite several theoretical chapters and opinion papers published on the topics, this question has barely been investigated experimentally. In the present study, we aim to try participants to control two robotic hands, a left one and a right one, using an EEG-based brain-computer interface. After an extensive training, they will be able to control freely the robotic hands, by deciding on each trial whether to make a movement with the right or the left hand. Some errors will be introduced, that is, when the user wants to make a movement with the right hand for instance, the left will actually be moving. We will record EEG data and investigate the amplitude of the Error-Related Negativity in order to understand how the brain processes errors made by a BCI. A strong interest in coding and electroencephalography is required.

Internship #8: Moral dilemmas during naturalistic social interactions

Would you sacrifice one person’s life to save five others? Moral dilemmas provoke moral conflicts when individuals must choose between mutually exclusive options. While previous research has explored cognitive mechanisms underlying moral decisions at the individual level, the impact of social influence on moral dilemmas has been largely overlooked. Studies indicate that the mere presence of a conspecific can alter information processing (Belletier et al., 2019), and coercive presence influences individuals’ sense of agency (Caspar et al., 2016, 2018). This project aims to characterize the cognitive and neural processes involved in moral decision-making within a social context. We will investigate how social presence influences individuals’ moral preferences, examining utilitarian or deontological choices at both behavioral and electrophysiological levels. This involves assessing moral decision-making through a traditional moral dilemmas task while recording participants’ brain activity, both individually and in dyads, using EEG hyperscanning setups. Proficiency in Dutch as a first language and good proficiency in either English or French are appreciated. Knowledge of statistics and/or programming languages such as R or Python is a plus.