Curriculum Vitae
Personal information
Name
Date of birth
Personal website
Google scholar
Education
2004-2009
1998-2003
Ronald van den Berg
: Van den Berg, Ronald
: 26-01-1979
: www.ronaldvandenberg.org
: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=QUDXhooAAAAJ
Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Perceptual interactions in human vision and implications for information visualization
Advisors: Prof Roerdink (Computer Science) & Dr Cornelissen (Experimental Vision)
B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Advisor: Prof J Bosch
Postdoctoral positions
2013-present Postdoctoral researcher, Sensorimotor Learning Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Advisor: Prof D Wolpert
2009-2012
Postdoctoral researcher, Theoretical and Systems Neuroscience lab, Baylor College of
Medicine, Houston, USA
Advisor: Prof WJ Ma (now at New York University)
Internships
2008
(May-Aug)
2003-2004
2002-2003
(Aug-Jan)
Summer internship, Perceptual Science Group at MIT, Cambridge, USA
Advisor: Dr R Rosenholtz
Research assistant, Research school of Behavioural and Cognitive and Neurosciences,
University of Groningen, Netherlands
Advisor: Dr FW Cornelissen
Research internship at Det Norske Veritas, Gjettum/Oslo, Norway (M.Sc. thesis)
Advisors: Prof J Bosch, BE Hansen
Grants and stipends
2009-2011
Rubicon fellowship for postdoctoral research, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific
Research (NWO)
2008
Travel stipend from School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience (BCN)
2008
Travel stipend from Vereniging voor Biofysica en Biomedische Technologie (VvBBMT)
2003-2004
Research stipend from School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience (BCN)
Committee memberships
2013-present Engineering Postdoc Committee, University of Cambridge
2006-2008
Computer infrastructure committee, University of Groningen
2007
Annual Programming Contest Committee, University of Groningen
Memberships of scientific societies
2013-present Cambridge Neuroscience
2011-2012
Society for Neuroscience
2010-2011
Vision Science Society
Reviewing for journals and funding agencies
NIH, Journal of Vision, Cognition, Journal of Neurophysiology, Visual Cognition, Frontiers Psychology, Vision
research.
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Curriculum Vitae
Ronald van den Berg
Programming/scripting languages
Matlab, Java, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, HTML, php, Python.
Natural languages
Fluent: Dutch, English, Frisian
Moderate: Swedish
Basic: German
Peer-reviewed articles
^ = joint first authorship, IF = Impact Factor.
Summary: 16 journal publications with a mean impact factor of 4.9
1. Ma WJ, Dziugaite G, Shen S, Van den Berg R (2015), Requiem for the max rule. Vision Research. In Press.
(IF: 2.6)
2. Van den Berg R, Awh E, Ma WJ (2014), Factorial comparison of working memory models. Psychological
Review. 121(1):124-149. (IF: 9.8)
3. Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2014), Plateau-related summary statistics are uninformative for comparing
working memory models. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics. DOI 10.3758/s13414-013-0618-7.
(IF: 2.0)
4. Keshvari S^, Van den Berg R^, Ma WJ (2013), No evidence for an item limit in change detection. PLoS
Computational Biology, 9(2):1002927. (IF: 4.9)
5. Mazyar H^, Van den Berg R^, Seilheimer R, Ma WJ (2013), Independence is elusive: Set size effects on
encoding precision in visual search. Journal of Vision, 13(5):1-14. (IF: 2.5)
6. Keshvari S, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2012), Probabilistic computation in perception under variability in
encoding precision. PLoS One, 7(6):e40216. (IF: 3.7)
7. Van den Berg R, Johnson A, Martinez A, Schepers AL, Cornelissen FW (2012), Comparing crowding in
human and ideal observers. Journal of Vision, 12(8):1-15. (IF: 2.5)
8. Van den Berg R^, Shin H^, Chou WC, George R, Ma WJ (2012), Variability in encoding precision accounts
for visual short-term memory limitations. PNAS, 109(22):8780-8785. (IF: 9.7)
9. Mazyar H^, Van den Berg R^, Ma WJ (2012), Does precision decrease with set size? Journal of Vision,
12(6):1-16. (IF: 2.5)
10. Van den Berg R, Vogel M, Josic K, Ma WJ (2012), Optimal inference of sameness. PNAS, 109(8):31783183. (IF: 9.7)
11. Ma WJ^, Navalpakkam V^, Beck JM^, Van den Berg R^, Pouget A (2011), Near-optimal visual search:
behavior and neural basis. Nature Neuroscience, 14:783-90. (IF: 15.3)
12. Van den Berg R, Roerdink JBTM, Cornelissen FW (2010), A neurophysiologically plausible population
code model for feature integration explains visual crowding. PLoS Computational Biology,
6(1):e1000646. (IF: 4.9)
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Curriculum Vitae
Ronald van den Berg
13. Van den Berg R, Cornelissen FW, Roerdink JBTM (2009), A crowding model of visual clutter. Journal of
Vision, 9(4):1-11. (IF: 2.5)
14. Van den Berg R, Cornelissen FW, Roerdink JBTM (2008), Perceptual dependencies in information
visualization assessed by complex visual search. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 4(4):1-21. (IF:
1.3)
15. Van den Berg R, Roerdink JBTM, Cornelissen FW (2007). On the generality of crowding: Visual crowding
in size, saturation, and hue compared to orientation. Journal of Vision, 7(2):1-11. (IF: 2.5)
16. Hannus A^, Van den Berg R^, Bekkering H, Roerdink JBTM, Cornelissen FW (2006), Visual search near
threshold: Some features are more equal than others. Journal of Vision, 6(4):523-540. (IF: 2.5)
Under review
17. Van den Berg R, Ma WJ, Modeling metacognitive judgments in working memory. Under review.
18. Ma WJ, Van den Berg R, A normative neural model of working memory limitations. Under review.
19. Bhardwaj M, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ, Josic K, Do humans take stimulus correlations into account in visual
search? Under review.
Peer-reviewed letters and comments
1. Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2012), Robust averaging during perceptual judgment is not optimal. Letter in
Response to “Robust averaging during perceptual judgment” by De Gardelle and Summerfield. PNAS,
109(13):E736.
Recent invited talks (2012-2014)
1. Bayesian inference in perceptual decision-making. Invited Speaker Seminar, University of Leicester, UK,
2014.
2. When and why does encoding precision in visual search decrease with set size? 31st BPS Cognitive
Psychology Section Conference, Nottingham, UK, 2014
3. Descriptive and normative models of working memory, MRC Cognition and Brain Science Unit,
Cambridge, UK, Feb 26, 2014.
4. Comparing probabilistic and heuristic models of decision making, Dept of Psychology, Uppsala, Sweden,
Dec 19, 2013.
5. Descriptive and normative models of working memory, Neural mechanisms of working memory limits
workshop at CNS 2013, Paris, France, July 17-18, 2013.
6. Optimal decision making beyond cue combination, Dept of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK, July
16, 2012.
7. Visual decision making in multi-object tasks, Dept of Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium, June 19,
2012.
8. Change detection as probabilistic inference under variable resources, GCC/TCN Annual Conference,
Houston, USA, Feb 11, 2012
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Curriculum Vitae
Ronald van den Berg
Peer-reviewed conference contributions
1. Woloszyn L, Anandalingam K, Van den Berg R, Wolpert DM, Shadlen MN (2014). Neural responses in
parietal area MIP support a link between decision confidence and movement variability. Society for
Neuroscience, Washington DC.
2. Shin H, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2013). Independent pools of visual short-term memory resource for
different features. Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
3. Shen S, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2013). When is sensory precision variable? Computational and Systems
Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
4. Bhardwaj M, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ, Josic K (2013). Do humans account for stimulus correlations in
visual perception? Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
5. Van den Berg R, Beck JM, Ma WJ (2012). Scientists are suboptimal in judging scientific data.
Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
6. Shin H, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2012). Change localization: a new paradigm for visual short-term
memory. Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
7. Mazyar H, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2012). On the precision of sensory encoding in visual search.
Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
8. Keshvari S, Van den Berg R, Ma WJ (2012). Change detection as probabilistic inference under variable
resources. Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
9. Van den Berg R, Chou WC, George R, Ma WJ (2011). Short-term memory limitations from variable neural
resources. Society for Neuroscience, Washington DC.
10. Ma WJ, van den Berg R, Chou WC, George R (2011). Variable, continuous resources in short-term
memory. Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
11. Van den Berg R, Vogel M, Josic K, Ma WJ (2011). Probabilistic inference of perceptual relationships.
Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City.
12. Van den Berg R, Roerdink JBTM, and Cornelissen FW (2009). Crowding and contour integration: the dark
and bright side of feature integration. European Conference on Visual Perception, Regensburg, Germany.
13. Van den Berg R, Hannus A, Bekkering H, Roerdink JBTM, Cornelissen FW (2006). Differential feature
crowding. European Conference on Visual Perception, St. Petersburg, Russia.
14. Van den Berg R, Hannus A, Roerdink JBTM, Cornelissen FW (2005). A colour-size processing asymmetry in
visual conjunction search. European Conference on Visual Perception, A Coruña, Spain.
15. Van den Berg R, Cornelissen FW, Hannus A, Roerdink JBTM (2005). Simultaneous colour search renders
other object features less salient. Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization, A
Coruña, Spain.
Teaching and mentoring
Course supervisor, University of Cambridge
3G3 Introduction to Neuroscience - 2014
Workshop (co-teacher)
Introduction to probabilistic models of perception, Research school of Behavioural and Cognitive and
Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Netherlands, Oct 2011
Teaching Assistant, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Computer Vision - 2007/2008
Imperative Programming - 2007/2008
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Curriculum Vitae
Ronald van den Berg
Imperative Programming - 2006/2007
Object Oriented Programming - 2006/2007
Student Colloquium - 2006/2007
Object Oriented Programming - 2005/2006
Introduction Informatics - 2005/2006
Student Colloquium - 2005/2006
Co-mentoring of students
K. Anandalingam (MSc student, 2014), H. Shin (PhD student, 2010-2012), R. Seilheimer (rotation student,
2011), J. Park (rotation student, 2010), T. Kinney (rotation student, 2010), S. Keshvari (research intern, 20092010), H. Mazyar (research intern, 2009-2010), A. Martinez (MSc student, later PhD student, 2008-2009), L.
Harting (MSc student, 2007), A. Schepers (MSc student, 2007), R. Dam (MSc student, 2005)
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