_Google citations

​Ramachers, STMR & Willems, RM (2024). Reading short stories in a foreign language: Is it as pleasurable as in the L1? Absorption and appreciation of short stories in Dutch secondary school students learning German as a foreign language, System, 120, 103211

Titus, A., Dijkstra, T, Willems, RM & Peeters, D. (2024). Beyond the tried and true: How virtual reality, dialog setups, and a focus on multimodality can take bilingual language production research forward, Neuropsychologia,193, 108764.

Lei, A., Willems, R. M., & Eekhof, L. S. (2023). Emotions, fast and slow: processing of emotion words is affected by individual differences in need for affect and narrative absorption. Cognition and Emotion, 37(5), 997–1005. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2216445

Eekhof, L. S., van Krieken, K., Sanders, J., & Willems, R. M. (2023). Engagement with narrative characters: the role of social-cognitive abilities and linguistic viewpoint. Discourse Processes, 60(6), 411–439. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2023.2206773

Mak, M, Faber, M & Willems, RM (2023) Different kinds of simulation during literary reading: Insights from a combined fMRI and eye-tracking study, Cortex,162,115-135.

RM Willems (2022) MA-EM: A neurocognitive model for understanding mixed and ambiguous emotions and morality Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-10

M Mak, M Faber, RM Willems (2022) Different routes to liking: how readers arrive at narrative evaluations Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications 7 (1), 1-15

Eekhof, L. S., van Krieken, K., & Willems, R. M. (2022). Reading about minds: The social-cognitive potential of narratives. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02079-z

Hartung, F., Wang, Y., Mak, M., Willems, R.M., & Chatterjee, A. (2021). Aesthetic appraisals of literary style and emotional intensity in narrative engagement are neurally dissociable. Communications Biology, 4(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02926-0

Consortium, H. B. S., Aarts, E., Akkerman, A., Altgassen, M., Bartels, R., Beckers, D., Bevelander, K., Bijleveld, E., Davidson, E. B., Boleij, A., Bralten, J., Cillessen, T., Claassen, J., Cools, R., Cornelissen, I., Dresler, M., Eijsvogels, T., Faber, M., Fernández, G., …Willems, R. M., Willemsen, A. (2021). Protocol of the Healthy Brain Study: An accessible resource for understanding the human brain and how it dynamically and individually operates in its bio-social context. PLOS ONE, 16(12), e0260952. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260952

Mak, M., & Willems, R. M. (2021). Eyelit: Eye Movement and Reader Response Data During Literary Reading. Journal of Open Humanities Data, 7: 25, pp. 1–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.49   

Eekhof, L. S., van Krieken, K., Sanders, J., & Willems, R. M. (2021). Reading Minds, Reading Stories: Social-Cognitive Abilities Affect the Linguistic Processing of Narrative Viewpoint. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 4195. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.698986

Willems, R. M., & Peelen, M. V. (2021). How context changes the neural basis of perception and language. IScience, 24(5), 102392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102392

Eekhof, L. S., Kuijpers, M. M., Faber, M., Gao, X., Mak, M., Hoven, E. van den, & Willems, R. M. (2021). Lost in a Story, Detached from the Words. Discourse Processes,, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2020.1857619 [link]

Mak,  H.M.L. & Willems, R.M.  (2021): Eyelit: Eye-movement and reader response data during literary reading. DANS. https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zqk-zmqs [dataset]

Lopopolo, A., van den Bosch, A., Petersson, K.-M., & Willems, R. M. (2020). Distinguishing syntactic operations in the brain: Dependency and phrase-structure parsing. Neurobiology of Language, 1–64. https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00029

Lopopolo, A., Schoffelen, J. M., van den Bosch, A., & Willems, R. M. (2020). Words in context: Tracking context-processing during language comprehension using computational language models and MEG. BioRxiv, 2020.06.19.161190. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.19.161190

Mak, M., Vries, C. D., & Willems, R. M. (2020). The Influence of Mental Imagery Instructions and Personality Characteristics on Reading Experiences. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.281 [link]

Willems, R. M., Nastase, S. & Milivojevic, B. Narratives for Neuroscience. Trends Neurosci. 43(5), 271-273 (2020). [link]

Faber, M., Mak, M., & Willems, R. (2020). Word skipping as an indicator of individual reading style during literary reading. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 13(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.16910/jemr.13.3.2

Martinez-Conde, S., Alexander, R. G., Blum, D., Britton, N., Lipska, B. K., Quirk, G. J., Swiss, J. I., Willems, R. M., & Macknik, S. L. (2019). The Storytelling Brain: How Neuroscience Stories Help Bridge the Gap between Research and Society. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(42), 8285–8290. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1180-19.2019 [pdf]

Gao, X., Dera, J., Nijhof, A., & Willems, R. M. (2019). Is less readable liked better? The case of font readability in poetry appreciation. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wzyj5 [link]

Armeni, K., Willems, R. M., van den Bosch, A., & Schoffelen, J.-M. (2019). Frequency-specific brain dynamics related to prediction during language comprehension. NeuroImage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.04.083  [link]
  
Lopopolo, A., Frank, S.L., van den Bosch, A., Willems, R. M. (2019) Dependency parsing with your eyes: Dependency structure predicts eye regressions during reading - Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling [link]

Mak, M., & Willems, R. M. (2018). Mental simulation during literary reading: Individual differences revealed with eye-tracking Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 180 [link]

Vries, C. de, Reijnierse, W. G., & Willems, R. M. (2018). Eye movements reveal readers’ sensitivity to deliberate metaphors during narrative reading. Scientific Study of Literature, 8(1), 135–164. https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.18008.vri [link]

Hasson, U., Egidi, G., Marelli, M., & Willems, R. M. (2018). Grounding the neurobiology of language in first principles: The necessity of non-language-centric explanations for language comprehension. Cognition, 180, 135–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.018 [link]

Willems, R. M. & van Gerven, M. (2018). New fMRI methods for the study of language. In: Rueschemeyer, S.-A., & Gaskell, M. G. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics (Second Edition). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. [link]

Vanlangendonck, F., Takashima, A., Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2018). Distinguishable memory retrieval networks for collaboratively and non-collaboratively learned information. Neuropsychologia, 111, 123-132. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.12.008 [link]

Eekhof, L. S., Eerland, A., & Willems, R. M. (2018). Readers’ Insensitivity to Tense Revealed: No Differences in Mental Simulation During Reading of Present and Past Tense Stories . Collabra: Psychology , 4 ( 1 ) , 16 . DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.121 [link]

Hartung, F., Withers, P., Hagoort, P., & Willems, R. M. (2017). When Fiction Is Just as Real as Fact: No Differences in Reading Behavior between Stories Believed to be Based on True or Fictional Events. Frontiers in Psychology, 8.  [link]

Willems, R. M., & Hartung, F. (preprint). Engaging regularly with fiction influences connectivity in cortical areas for language and mentalizing. PsyArXiv [link]

Armeni, K., Willems, R. M., & Frank, S. L. (2017). Probabilistic language models in cognitive neuroscience: Promises and pitfalls. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. [link]

Hartung, F., Hagoort, P., & Willems, R. M. (2017). Readers select a comprehension mode independent of pronoun: Evidence from fMRI during narrative comprehension. Brain and Language, 170, 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2017.03.007 [link]

Jacobs, A. M., & Willems, R. M. (2017). The Fictive Brain: Neurocognitive Correlates of Engagement in Literature. Review of General Psychology,  https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000106 [link]

Willems, R. M. (2017). Book review of 'Ridley, Rosalind. 2016. Peter Pan and the Mind of J. M. Barrie: An Exploration of Cognition and Consciousness', Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 1(1) [pdf]

Lopopolo, A., Frank, S. L., van den Bosch, A., & Willems, R. M. (2017). Using stochastic language models (SLM) to map lexical, syntactic, and phonological information processing in the brain. PloS One, 12(5), e0177794. [link]

Frank, S. L. & Willems, R. M. (2017).Word predictability and semantic similarity show distinct patterns of brain activity during language comprehension. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience [link]

Willems, R. M., & Cristia, A. (2017). Hemodynamic methods: fMRI and fNIRS. In A. de Groot & P. Hagoort (Eds.), Research Methods in Psycholinguistics and the Neurobiology of Language: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

van den Hoven, E., Hartung, F., Burke, M., & Willems, R. M. (2017). Effects of Foregrounding on Reading Behavior: Evidence from Eye-tracking Study. Collabra: Psychology. [link]

Kunert, R., Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2016). An Independent Psychometric Evaluation of the PROMS Measure of Music Perception Skills. PloS One, 11(7), e0159103. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159103 [link]

Hartung, F., Burke, M., Hagoort, P., & Willems, R. M. (2016). Taking Perspective: Personal Pronouns Affect Experiential Aspects of Literary Reading. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0154732. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154732 [link]

Vanlangendonck, F., Willems, R. M., Menenti, L. & Hagoort, P. (2016). An Early Influence of Common Ground during Speech Planning. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience [link]

Willems, R. M. & Jacobs, A. M. (2016). Caring About Dostoyevsky: The Untapped Potential of Studying Literature. Trends in Cognitive Sciences [link]​

Kunert, R., Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2016). Language influences music harmony perception – effects of shared syntactic integration resources beyond attention. Royal Society Open Science [link]

​Willems, R. M., Frank, S. L., Nijhof, A. D., Hagoort, P., & Bosch, A. van den. (2016). Prediction During Natural Language Comprehension. Cerebral Cortex  [link]

Willems, R. M. (2015). Literatuur en brein: liefde op het tweede gezicht? Cultuur + Educatie [pdf]

De Nooijer, J. A., & Willems, R. M. (2016). What can we learn about cognition from studying handedness? Insights from cognitive neuroscience. In F. Loffing, N. Hagemann, B. Strauss, & C. MacMahon (Eds.), Laterality in sports: Theories and applications (pp. 135-153). Amsterdam: Elsevier. 

Samur, D., Lai, V. T., Hagoort, P., & Willems, R. M. (2015). Emotional Context modulates Embodied Metaphor Comprehension. Neuropsychologia. [link]

Lai, V. T., Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2015). Feel between the lines: Implied emotion from combinatorial semantics. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. [link]

Kunert, R., Willems, R. M., Casasanto, D., Patel, A. D., & Hagoort, P. (2015). Music and Language Syntax Interact in Broca’s Area: An fMRI Study. PLoS ONE, 10(11), e0141069. [link]

Willems, R. M. (Ed.). (2015). Cognitive Neuroscience of Natural Language Use. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. [link]

Nijhof, A. D., & Willems, R. M. (2015). Simulating Fiction: Individual Differences in Literature Comprehension Revealed with fMRI. PLoS ONE, 10(2), e0116492. [link]

Willems R.M. and Francks C. (2014) Your left-handed brain. Front. Young Minds. 2:13. doi: 10.3389/frym.2014.00013 [link]

Guadalupe, T., Willems, R. M., Zwiers, M. P., Arias Vasquez, A., Hoogman, M., Hagoort, P., … Francks, C. (2014). Differences in cerebral cortical anatomy of left- and right-handers. Frontiers in Cognition, 5, 261. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00261 [link]

Willems, R. M., van der Haegen, L., Fisher, S. E., & Francks, C. (2014). On the other hand: including left-handers in cognitive neuroscience and neurogenetics. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. doi:10.1038/nrn3679 [pdf]

De Grauwe, S., Willems, R. M., Rüschemeyer, S.-A., Lemhöfer, K., & Schriefers, H. (2014). Embodied language in first- and second-language speakers: Neural correlates of processing motor verbs. Neuropsychologia. Advance online publication. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.003. [link]

Willems, R. M. (2013). Can literary studies contribute to cognitive neuroscience? Journal of Literary Semantics [pdf]

De Boer, M., Toni I., & Willems, R. M. (2013). What drives successful communication? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience [link]

Kaltwasser, L., Ries, S., Sommer, W., Knight, R. T., & Willems, R. M. (2013). Independence of valence and reward in emotional word processing: electrophysiological evidence. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 168. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00168 [link]

Willems, R. M. & Francken, J. C. (2012). Embodied Cognition: Taking the next step. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 582. [link]

Peeters, D., Vanlangendonck, F., & Willems, R. M. (2012). Bestaat er een talenknobbel? Over taal in ons brein. In M. Boogaard, & M. Jansen (Eds.), De taalcanon: Alles wat je altijd al wilde weten over taal (pp. 41-43). Amsterdam: Meulenhoff. [link] (very nice site with general information about language, in Dutch)

Willems, R. M. (2011). Re-appreciating the why of cognition: 35 years after Marr and Poggio. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 224 [link]

Willems, R. M., Benn, Y., Hagoort, P., Toni, I. & Varley, R. (2011). Communicating without a functioning language system: Implications for the role of language in mentalizing. Neuropsychologia, 49(11), 3130-3135. [pdf]

Willems, R. M. & Casasanto, D. (2011). Flexibility in embodied language understanding. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 116 [link]

Willems, R. M., Labruna, L., D'Esposito, M., Ivry, R. & Casasanto, D. (2011). A functional role for the motor system in language understanding: Evidence from theta burst TMS Psychological Science, 22(7), 849-854  [pdf]

Willems, R. M. & Varley, R. A. (2010). Neural insights into the relation between language and communication. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 4:203 link

Willems, R. M., Clevis, K.. & Hagoort, P. (2011). Add a picture for suspense: neural correlates of the interaction between language and visual information in the perception of fear. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(4), 404-416 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Peelen, M. & Hagoort, P. (2010). Cerebral lateralization of face-selective and body-selective visual areas depends on handedness. Cerebral Cortex, 20(7), 1719-1725 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Toni, I., Hagoort, P. & Casasanto, D. (2010). Neural dissociations between action verb understanding and motor imagery. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 10, 2387-2400 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., De Boer, M., De Ruiter, J.P., Noordzij, M. L, Hagoort, P. & Toni, I. (2010).A cerebral dissociation between linguistic and communicative abilities in humans. Psychological Science, 21(1), 8-14 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Hagoort, P. & Casasanto, D. (2010). Body-specific representations of action verbs: Neural evidence from right- and left-handers. Psychological Science, 21(1), 67-74 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Özyürek, A., & Hagoort, P. (2009). Differential roles for pSTS and LIFG in neural integration of action and language information. NeuroImage 47(4) 1994-2002 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Toni, I., Hagoort, P. & Casasanto, D. (2009). Body-specific motor imagery of hand actions: Neural evidence from right- and left-handers Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,3:39 [link]

Hagoort, P., Baggio, G., & Willems, R. M. (2009). Semantic unification. In Gazzaniga (Ed.) The cognitive neurosciences IV, Cambridge, MA: MIT press [pdf]

Willems, R.M. & Hagoort, P. (2011). Cortical motor contributions to language understanding. To appear in Hermer, L. (Ed.) Contributions of primary sensory and motor cortices to higher cognitive processes: Research Signpost press.

Willems, R. M. & Hagoort, P. (2009). Broca's region: Battles are not won by ignoring half of the facts. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(3), 101. [Comment on Grodzinsky & Santi, TICS] [pdf]

Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2009). Hand preference influences neural correlates of action observation. Brain Research 1269, 90-104 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Oostenveld, R., & Hagoort, P. (2008). Early decreases in alpha and gamma band power distinguish linguistic from visual information during spoken sentence comprehension. Brain Research [pdf]

Rueschemeyer, S.-A., van Rooij, D., Lindemann, O., Willems, R. M., & Bekkering, H. (2010). The function of words: Distinct neural correlates for words denoting differently manipulable objects. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience [pdf]

de Lange F. P., Spronk M., Willems R. M., Toni I., Bekkering H. (2008). Complementary systems for understanding action intentions. Current Biology 18(6), 454-457 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Özyürek, A., & Hagoort, P. (2008). Seeing and Hearing Meaning: ERP and fMRI Evidence of Word versus Picture Integration into a Sentence Context. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(7), 1235-1249 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., Özyürek, A., & Hagoort, P. (2007). When language meets action: The neural integration of gesture and speech. Cerebral Cortex, 17(10) 2322-2333 [pdf]

Özyürek, A., Willems, R. M., Kita, S., & Hagoort, P. (2007). On-line integration of semantic information from speech and gesture: Insights from event-related brain potentials. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19(4), 605-616 [pdf]

Willems, R. M., & Hagoort, P. (2007). Neural evidence for the interplay between language, gesture and action: A review. Brain and Language, 101(3), 278-298. [pdf]

Willems, R. M. (2007). The neural construction of a Tinkertoy. Journal of Neuroscience 27(7), 1509-1510 [‘Journal club’ review] [pdf]

Here is a pdf of my PhD thesis