dr. Thijs van Laarhoven

Bio

How are we able to connect and interact with our environment and other people? Why is fitting in hard for some, but easy for others?

As a cognitive neuropsychologist, I aim to answer these questions by examining brain and behavior interactions in multisensory processing and social functioning across neurotypes.

Neurodivergent people, such as individuals with autism, often struggle to fit in and form friendships with neurotypical peers. These socio-communicative difficulties are often assumed to be caused by fundamentally impaired social skills. However, neurodivergent people often have less trouble to connect with neurodivergent peers, which suggests that the communication gap between neurodivergent and neurotypical people arises, in part, from mutual, rather than one-sided, misunderstandings.

I envision that the key to overcoming this double empathy problem is to focus on similarities and differences, and affirm neurodiversity, rather than utilizing a neuronormative approach.

Courses

• Brain and Behavior (Psychology)
• Brain and Behavior (Dutch Program)
• Brain and Behavior (Dutch Program)
• Brain and Behavior for LAS

Top publications

1. Zooming on the spectrum - Exploring the relationship between Zoom-fat…

   van Laarhoven, T., Bögels, S., Vroomen, J., & Swerts, M. (2023). Zooming on the spectrum: Exploring the relationship between Zoom-fatigue, autistic traits and sensory sensitivity. Poster session presented at International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 22nd annual meeting, Stockholm, Sweden.

2. Synaesthesia and its relation to social and sensory aspects of autism

   van Leeuwen, T., Koolen, M., Neufeld, J., van Laarhoven, T., & Lier, R. V. (2022). Synaesthesia and its relation to social and sensory aspects of autism. 154-154. Abstract from The 44th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) 2022, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

3. Atypical visual-auditory predictive coding in autism spectrum disorde…

   van Laarhoven, T., Stekelenburg, J., Eussen, M., & Vroomen, J. (2020). Atypical visual-auditory predictive coding in autism spectrum disorder: Electrophysiological evidence from stimulus omissions. Autism, 24(7), 1849-1859.

4. Electrophysiological alterations in motor‐auditory predictive coding …

   van Laarhoven, T., Stekelenburg, J., Eussen, M., & Vroomen, J. (2019). Electrophysiological alterations in motor‐auditory predictive coding in autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 12(4), 589-599.

5. Increased sub-clinical levels of autistic traits are associated with …

   van Laarhoven, T., Stekelenburg, J., & Vroomen, J. (2019). Increased sub-clinical levels of autistic traits are associated with reduced multisensory integration of audiovisual speech. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 9535 .