Axel Cleeremans

Axel Cleeremans serves as Research Director for the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS) and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Université libre de Bruxelles, directing the Center for Research in Cognition & Neurosciences (CRCN) and leading the Consciousness, Cognition and Computation (CO3) Group in interdisciplinary consciousness research.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University (1991)

His research centers on the neural and functional basis of consciousness, investigating how subjective experience emerges from brain activity and influences cognition. Key areas include implicit/explicit learning mechanisms, computational modeling of perceptual moments, reward processing dynamics, and socio-emotional information acquisition through virtual interactions. He employs methodologies spanning psychophysiology, virtual reality, and neuroimaging to bridge theoretical frameworks with empirical evidence.

Recent publications demonstrate consistent focus on consciousness functionality, with 2022 works examining phenomenal experience's cognitive role, reward-information value systems, and insight problem-solving under cognitive load. Methodological innovations feature prominently, including validation of wearable HRV monitors and virtual avatar paradigms for socio-emotional learning.

No specific scientific awards are documented in the source text.

As head of the CO3 Group, Cleeremans mentors researchers in consciousness science while securing FNRS-funded projects. His grant-supported work enables exploration of meta-experience modeling, neural correlates of decision-making, and large-scale collaboration through adversarial scientific frameworks.

The CRCN and CO3 Group integrate psychology, neuroscience, and computer science expertise at Université libre de Bruxelles, maintaining active research lines in computational consciousness models, neural dynamics of awareness, and real-world applications of cognitive theory.