Research team
Expertise
My PhD (2020-2024) unraveled how young adults (18-25) use, process, and are affected by food media content. As a Fulbright Alum, I conducted a research stay at Washington State University, where I started developing my expertise in psychophysiology. I enjoy conducting research that integrates this approach and combines objective and subjective measurement for a more comprehensive understanding of media use and effects. Currently, most of my time is spent on Bored2M (MIOS research group) investigating boredom and digital media selection from a media psychological and psychophysiological perspective. Alongside that, I work on De Oorzaak, the largest citizen science project on studying sound perception and its health effects via a multi-wave sensor study. My overarching research interests lie in exploring the impact of evolving media technologies and content, particularly on social media, on individuals’ media behaviors, processing, and well-being. By integrating the lens of media psychophysiology, I aim to unravel the intricate mechanisms of media use and persuasion, and contribute to a holistic understanding of individuals’ interactions with media.
Fulbright Scholarship Visiting Student Researcher 2022-2023
Abstract
My PhD research concerns the perceptions, motivations, and effects of food media content (any food-related message or content present in media including print, social media, etc.) among emerging adults between 18 and 25 years old in Flanders, Belgium. My research project studies this topic through diverse methodologies: qualitatively through focus groups, and quantitatively through self-report questionnaires and direct measurement via a media psychophysiology experiment. This way, this topic of food media content is approached holistically from various perspectives and its understanding is built upon iteratively as I progress from deep, interpretative qualitative data to specific quantitative data with more predictive value. My final PhD study aims to adopt direct measurements, through media psychophysiology and experimental methods, in assessing food media content perceptions and effects among emerging adults and incorporates exploratory findings from my previous studies to create experimental stimuli. Carrying out this psychophysiological study requires strengthening that specific methodological expertise. Prof. Dr. Paul Bolls, who is situated in Pullman, WA, U.S. at Washington State University, has helped set foundations for media psychophysiology research and has inspired media psychophysiology strategies at the University of Antwerp. He carries out media psychophysiology studies as the core of his research and thus has comprehensive know-how when it comes to preparing, conducting, analyzing, and reporting such studies. These things considered, I am fulfilling this last phase of my PhD together with this expert in media psychophysiology in the U.S. thanks to a successful Fulbright grant from the Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Specifically, Prof. Dr. Bolls is guiding me in analyzing the psychophysiological data that I have collected in Antwerp, reporting on it, and writing up the manuscript. This will strengthen my current research and provide me with in-depth methodological expertise that will strengthen my profile as an academic researcher in the future. Undertaking this research stay also creates opportunities for intercultural exchange of research expertise more broadly and of laboratory processes and skills as well. First, with this visit I have the opportunity to learn more advanced psychophysiology equipment and practices than research at my own institution currently allows. This not only advances my knowledge; I will bring this expertise back to the psychophysiological lab at my home institution so our teams in Belgium can learn from these best practices as well. As such, the knowledge transfer that will take place during my visit will extend into long-term research practices adopted from advanced U.S. media psychophysiology research.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: De Backer Charlotte
- Fellow: Decorte Paulien
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project