UM-BBI at Maastricht University consists of basic, clinical and cognitive neuroscientists who are
involved in neurodegeneration, psychopathology and cognitive neurochemistry. The latter group study
human pharmacological models of cognitive psychomotor dysfunction and conduct applied research on
the influence of drugs on traffic safety. The group disposes of two instrumented vehicles employing
three standardised methods of assessing car drivers' performance on open roads. The first is the
assessment of straight road driving using the standard deviation of lateral position, or weaving,
as its main index, the second is car-following using headway, brake reaction time and
time-to-collision as its main parameters. The third is city driving using driving proficiency as
derived from behavioural observation, visual search as derived from eye-tracking and implicit
navigational memory as its main indices. Drug-induced changes in driving performance are compared
to a predefined criterion level for determining their practical relevance. This criterion level
corresponds to a change in driving performance observed in drivers conducting the same tests, under
similar conditions, with blood-alcohol-concentrations of .05 g% (the legal limit).
Dr.
Wim Riedel obtained his Ph.D. in Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University on the topic of
cognition enhancing drugs, cholinergic function, age-related decline and depression. Dr. Riedel is
presently a Lecturer in the Faculties of Medicine and Psychology at Maastricht University and a
researcher within the Brain & Behaviour Institute. He has worked on fundamental cognitive
neurochemistry research elucidating the relation between neurotransmitter (dys)function and
cognition and on various applied projects assessing effects of medicinal and illicit drugs on
cognitive and psychomotor functions and on car driving performance. His fundamental research
involvement is currently in neuroimaging of cognitive neurochemistry whereas his applied research
interests concern the relation between medicinal and illicit drug use (eg. MDMA) and actual driving
(in)ability. In 1998 he was the editor of a supplement issue of the Human Psychopharmacology
journal on "Drugs & Driving".
Dr. Jan Ramaekers obtained his PhD in
Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University. His thesis 'behavioural toxicity of psychoactive
drugs' entails a series of performance studies for assessing the behavioural effects of medicinal
drugs. Dr. Ramaekers has spent 8 years of research at the Institute for Human Psychopharmacology at
Maastricht University. During these years he conducted a large number of experimental studies on
the effects of medicinal drugs, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, hypnotics, anxiolytics
and antihistamines on cognition, psychomotor function and actual driving performance of healthy
volunteers and patients. In 1998 he accepted a position as a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology
and as a researcher within the Brain & Behaviour Institute at Maastricht University. He has been a
(co)organiser of courses in the field of Psychopharmacology, Biological Psychology and
Environmental and Traffic Psychology. Dr. Ramaekers' currently continues his line of research on the
behavioural toxicity of drugs.
Dr. Jeroen Schmitt obtained his PhD in Psychopharmacology at Maastricht University in 2001.
The central theme of his PhD thesis entitled 'Serotonin, Caffeine and Cognition' was to explore several
putative pathways of pharmacological cognition enhancement. A significant part of his research activities
centre around the role of the neurotransmitter serotonin in human cognitive behaviour. In this context he has
investigated the acute and subchronic effects of various serotonergic antidepressant drugs on human performance.
Other research interests include the influence of various nutrients (e.g. caffeine, vitamins, amino
acid supplements) on cognition, and the effects of (il)licit and medicinal drugs on driving ability and
cognitive performance. Dr. Schmitt is currently a post-doc research fellow at the Experimental
Psychopharmacology Unit of the Brain and Behaviour Institute at the Universiteit Maastricht.
