Rudi De Raedt

Professor Rudi De Raedt is a prominent faculty member at Ghent University's Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, where he has established himself as a leading researcher in clinical psychology and cognitive neuroscience. With over two decades of continuous publication activity from 2005 through 2025, he maintains an active research program focused on understanding the cognitive mechanisms underlying depression and anxiety disorders.

His research primarily investigates attentional biases, emotion regulation processes, rumination, and cognitive control in depression, with a particular emphasis on how these processes interact with neurobiological mechanisms. De Raedt has pioneered work on the application of neuromodulation techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for treating depression, examining both their therapeutic mechanisms and cognitive effects.

Analysis of his extensive publication record reveals three major research trajectories: (1) cognitive vulnerability factors for depression, particularly attentional biases and rumination; (2) the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation deficits in depression using neuroimaging and neuromodulation; and (3) the development and testing of novel interventions targeting cognitive processes in mood disorders. His work consistently bridges basic cognitive science with clinical applications, demonstrating how laboratory findings can inform treatment approaches.

• Over 216 publications in Social Sciences
• 127 publications in Medicine and Health Sciences
• Supervised 8+ PhD students to completion since 2017
• Extensive collaboration with Chris Baeken (121 co-publications) and Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt (120 co-publications)

De Raedt's research has significantly contributed to understanding how attentional processes discriminate between depression and dementia in older adults, how cognitive control mechanisms are impaired in depression, and how neuromodulation can potentially restore these functions. His work has established important connections between implicit cognitive processes, neural activity patterns, and clinical symptoms in mood disorders.