I studied psychology in Bochum (Vordiplom, 1995) and experimental psychology in Nijmegen (doctoraal, 1999) and received my PhD in 2003 from the University of Nijmegen (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) for my work on idiom production. During a number of post-doc positions, both in the US and the Netherlands (University of Pittsburgh, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of Groningen), I gained further experience in cognitive psychology (focusing on the role of working memory in language), as well as psycholinguistic approaches to bilingualism. In addition, idioms (or rather multiword expressions) have been a continuous source of inspiration.
I have taught courses on cognitive psychology, statistics, research methods and psycholinguistics to students from various backgrounds (linguistics, AI, psychology, medicine) and currently hold a position as assistant professor at the University of Groningen where I study lexical access in L1 and L2, idiom processing, cognitive control, and the way in which language processing changes across the life span. In addition to teaching and research, I have also held various organizational positions centered around teaching.
I am affiliated with the Semantics and Cognition group (head: Petra Hendriks), at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Groningen. I am also a member of the Groningen Center for Language and Cognition (CLCG), the Research School of Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN), and the Werkverband Amsterdamse Psycholinguïsten (het WAP) . I speak German, Dutch, and English, and can order a coffee in French.
In the past, I have received grants from the National German Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes), Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the Gratama stichting, and NWO.