Jan Theeuwes

Prof. Jan Theeuwes is a Full Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, leading the ERC-funded research group on statistical learning and attention. He holds additional roles as Distinguished Visiting Research Professor at the William James Center for Research (Lisbon) and Visiting Professor at Zhejiang University (China). With over 474 publications and two ERC Advanced Grants (2013 & 2019), his work spans visual attention, statistical learning, and applied human factors in road design. He pioneered the 'Self-Explaining Roads' concept, revolutionizing global road safety design, and co-developed Open Sesame, a widely used open-source experiment builder. His research integrates EEG, fMRI, and computational modeling, addressing topics like distractor suppression, emotion, and leadership influence. Over 25 PhD students have graduated under his mentorship, many securing academic roles across Europe.

Education: Cum laude degrees in Experimental Psychology (Tilburg University) and a PhD (VU Amsterdam, 1992). Key awards include the Bertelson Award (2001) and KNAW membership (2010). He advises the Dutch Department of Transportation and founded the Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (IBBA) in 2016. Ancillary roles include leadership in European psychological societies and consultancy for Attention Architects, applying eye-tracking research in corporate settings.