Bio

I am an experimental psychologists interested in learning, memory, psychopathology, fear, and anxiety. To investigate these topics, I mainly conduct laboratory studies using the classical conditioning paradigm and psychophysiological measures (such as skin conductance and the startle reflex).

I obtained a PhD in psychology in 2016 from Ghent University, Belgium. Thereafter, I was a post-doctoral researcher for three and a half years at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Currently, I am a tenure-track assistant professor here at Tilburg University.

For more information regarding my scientific work, you can visit my Google Scholar or ResearchGate profile.

For more frequent updates, you can also follow me on Twitter

Courses

Recent publications

  1. Angst voor COVID-19: Risico’s en voordelen

    Mertens, G., Novacek, D. M., McNally, R. J., & Engelhard, I. M. (2024). Angst voor COVID-19: Risico’s en voordelen. De Psycholoog, 59(3), 30-36.
  2. Long COVID is not a uniform syndrome - Evidence from person-level sym…

    van den Houdt, S. C. M., Slurink, I. A. L., & Mertens, G. (2024). Long COVID is not a uniform syndrome: Evidence from person-level symptom clusters using latent class analysis . Journal of infection and public health, 17(2), 321-328.
  3. Fear of COVID-19 - Data of a large longitudinal survey conducted betw…

    Mertens, G., Lodder, P., Smeets, T., & Duijndam, S. N. C. (2023). Fear of COVID-19: Data of a large longitudinal survey conducted between March 2020 and June 2021. Data in Brief, 48, Article 109177.
  4. Managing fear during pandemics - Risks and opportunities

    Mertens, G., Engelhard, I. M., Novacek, D. M., & McNally, R. J. (2023). Managing fear during pandemics: Risks and opportunities. Perspectives on Psychological Science. Advance online publication.
  5. Pandemic panic? - Results of a 14 month longitudinal study on fear of…

    Mertens, G., Lodder, P., Smeets, T., & Duijndam, S. (2023). Pandemic panic? Results of a 14 month longitudinal study on fear of COVID-19. Journal of Affective Disorders, 322, 15-23.

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