Martijn Wokke

Martijn started to pursue a life of science in Amsterdam by joining the lab of Dr. Victor Lamme. In 2014, the scientific waters took him into the realm of internally oriented processes, including metacognition, prediction, and creative thinking. He investigated these topics in Brussels with Dr. Axel Cleeremans and in the labs of Dr. Tony Ro in New York and Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein in Cambridge (Marie Curie Global Fellowship 2018-2021). Currently, Martijn is investigating how (conscious/unconscious) internally generated information emerges in the brain, at the University of Granada and at New York University. To this end, he uses psychophysics, neuroimaging methods (fMRI, MEG/EEG), and non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS).

In general, he believes that as a scientist, it is important to be cautious with labels such as ‘optimal behavior’ or other concepts that are constructed by experimenters. For example, to compare a crow’s intelligence to human skills could potentially hinder the understanding of the crow’s adept behavior considering the ecological niche. This insight is elegantly reflected in the word ‘Oubaitori’ ( 桜梅桃李). Each individual character of the word represents a different kind of blossom: cherry, apricot, peach and plum. All four trees blossom, but they blossom at their own moment, following their own path in time in which they show their beauty.