Sander van Bree
sandervanbree@gmail.com
About me
My work is aimed at figuring out how a dynamic brain achieves cognition. I see brain oscillations as a promising piece of the puzzle — they are a thread spanning most of my projects. Meta-scientifically, I view mechanistic explanation as our vehicle to scientific insight, a position I outline here.
I spend time reading up across a variety of disciplines, as I believe in the cross-pollination of ideas from distant topics. You might find me reading up on foraging behavior in bees during one week, and on radio astronomy during the next! Most of my attention however goes to neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy.
Outside of science, my main passion is art. I'm a sucker for experimental film and music. Think peace and quiet alternated with noise and bursts of colored light. I'm also an advocate of workplace climate activism, which I believe can be surprisingly effective.
Scientific style
I'm outspoken and I'll generally take a critical yet constructive stance. I resonate with people who favor big picture thinking and who know their way around philosophy. I value candidness and I'd rather give/receive no compliment than an inauthentic one. I strive to write and speak pointedly and concisely, and I do my best to keep my work freely accessible.
Musings
The scope and limits of oscillations in language comprehension
Maybe neuroscience is sort of like an engineering project where we build bridges from brain to mind. On our side of the river lie the nuts and bolts of the brain, and on the other lies our psychology. Building the bridge is about explaining how the for...
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Introducing the Brain Time Toolbox
We've just published the paper accompanying the Brain Time Toolbox in Nature Human Behaviour (page; PDF). This post serves to give a brief introduction to the toolbox, explaining its raison d'être and how it works. In a sentence, it transforms electrop...
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Why neuroscience can’t do without philosophy
If you’re in a room with neuroscientists and somebody brings up philosophy, you can expect at least a few scoffs and eye rolls. I can see where this sentiment comes from. We’re strained from trying to make sense of our data as it stands, so to hear tha...
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