Klik hier voor de nederlandse versie

J. Jolles is a full professor of Brain, behavior & Education: Educational Neuropsychology at VU University Amsterdam (Faculty of Psychology & Education). He holds this position from february 1^st, 2009. At the VU University, he is also the scientific director of the AZIRE institute for research in education. This interfacultary institute has recently been establised in order to further fundamental and applied research on the domain of education in its broadest sense, and to promote the scientific exchange between various scientific disciplines and between scientists and professionals in the domain of education. He directs the recently founded ‘Centre for Brain & Learning Amsterdam’ which was devised according to the organisation of a similar centre which he has founded in Maastricht, several years ago. 

Up till february 2009, he has held a position as full professor in Neuropsychology and Biological Psychology /Psycho-biology at Maastricht University (since 1985). This position was based upon an appointment at both the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Psychology. Through the years, he has been head of the patient care units specializing in clinical neuropsychology at the university hospital Maastricht and at the Psychomedical Centre Vijverdal. He was also leader of the Division of Cognitive Disorders, which is embedded in the School of Mental Health & Neuroscience (MHENS formerly: Research Institute Brain & Behaviour). He is director of the Maastricht Centre for Brain & Learning. A common denominator of Jolles’ activities can be summarized under the theme ‘Brain and Learning’.

His managerial activities relate to research, teaching, education, and patient care. Emphasis is on ‘Brain & Learning’ in relation to cognitive development and ageing. Behavioural, cognitive, and affective functions and dysfunctions in healthy subjects (children, adolescents, adults and elderly) and in patients are relevant in that context. ‘Lifelong Learning’ is a common theme in many of his activities with regard to healthy subjects aged 4 through high age. With respect to patients, the core of his activities is directed at health conditions in which structural or functional brain dysfunction is present. Focus is upon (neuro)psychiatric conditions in relation to development (e.g. learning disorders, ADHD) and aging (dementia, Alzheimer’s disease). Neurocognitive functioning, assessment and diagnosis, treatment interventions and educational interventions, are organised in relation to healh care, education (schools) and preclinical research. Jolles has held many positions in various national committees and boards and in organisational structures related to university (Maastricht University, VU University Amsterdam).

Research activities are focused on the relationship between biological and psychological factors in their effect on behavioural, cognitive, and affective problems. Since the start of the research programme, Jolles has supervised 58 PhD students in the trajectory towards dissertation. 16 PhD students are presently working on their dissertation project. His research has yielded more than 450 scientific publications in international journals. 

There are three, converging, lines of research. There is an emphasis on learning and memory processes in healthy subjects as well as on learning and memory problems in neuropsychiatric disease. Line 1 involves brain & learning in relation to cognitive development and ageing in healthy subjects. Line 2 has to do with brain & learning in neuropsychiatric conditions in development (e.g. ADHD, learning problems) and ageing (e.g. age-associated problems in memory and learning, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease). Line 3 involves the biopsychological (cq brain-) mechanisms underlying brain & learning in relation to development and ageing in health and disease with a focus upon structural and functional brain imaging. 

The research takes place in a ‘lifespan perspective’ and involves children, adults and aged people. Core of the research is ‘Learning, brain development and brain ageing and the interaction with environmental factors’. Psychological factors and psychosocial factors are investigated from the perspective that situational circumstances can influence the extent to which biological factors come to expression. Through the three lines, there are projects into brain imaging with MRI techniques, research into risk- and protective factors, and experimental interventions with drugs, nutritional factors or neuropsychological techniques. An important aim of this research is to generate fundamental insights into the relationships between brain and behaviour and, more specifically, into the relationship between brain, cognition and learning. 

With regard to teaching and education Jolles contributes to both the content and organisation of the so-called first-phase teaching especially for research master students (cognitive and clinical neuropsychology). He is registered as a clinical psychologist at the NIP institute (Netherlands Institute for Psychologists) and as a health-care psychologist. In this capacity, he has been responsible for many years for the health care provided by the Academic Department of Neuropsychology in the Psychomedical Centre Vijverdal (Mondriaan Care group) and for the neuropsychological health care provided by the Division of Neuropsychology of the Maastricht University Medical Centre. In these two health-care settings, he has been the supervisor of trainee health-care psychologists (‘Gezondheidszorgpsychologie’) since the start in 1998.