Short info
Research
"Every day, our senses record an impressive amount of information, which generates biases for more effective processing. For example, we decode language better with the right ear. This is known as ‘right ear advantage’ (REA) and our team has found ways to increase REA and improve perception of fast visual stimuli. We’ve also shown that by changing the word ‘AND’ with ‘OR’, people manage to encode several memory episodes instead of one. More frequent chunking and re-combining information is a hallmark of creativity. Our team is exploring brain structure differences in creative individuals. We’ve found that the left and the right hemispheres are more coherent in women than in men, in both health and mental illness. A novel research direction is the emergence of creativity in patients with Parkinson’s, who suddenly get the ‘spark’ to produce fine art."
My research in ONE minute:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jGvWmffSL0
Teaching
IGSIN 913 Integrated Neuroscience, module "The Neuroscience of Memory"
MAPSYK 319B Cognitive Neuroscience, emneansvarlig
MAPSYK 360 Master's Thesis in Psychology, supervisor
MAPSYK 319A/PROPSY 303 Biological Psychology, module "Emotions" I and II
PROPSY 304 Cognitive Neuroscience, modules "Perception", "Memory", "Attention and Cognitive Control"
PSYK 122 Practical Research Methods
Publications
- Giske, J., Dumitru, M. L., Enberg, K., Folkedal, O., Handeland, S. O., Higginson, A. D., Opdal, A. F., Rønnestad, I., Salvanes, A. G. V., Vollset, K. W., Zennaro, F. M., Mangel, M., & Budaev, S. (2025). Premises for digital twins reporting on Atlantic salmon wellbeing. Behavioral Processes, 226, 105163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2025.105163.
- Dumitru, M. L., & Frugård Opdal, A, M. (2024). Beyond the Mosaic Model of Brain Evolution: Rearing Environment Defines Local and Global Plasticity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1542, 58-66. https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.15267
- Dumitru, M. L., Johnsen, E., Kroken, R. A., Løberg, E.-M., Lilleskare, L., Ersland, L., & Hugdahl, K. (2024). Widespread Asymmetries of Amygdala Nuclei Predict Auditory Verbal Hallucinatios in Schizophrenia. BMC Psychiatry, 24, 826. https://www.springermedizin.de/widespread-asymmetries-of-amygdala-nuclei-predict-auditory-verba/50224716?searchResult=2.amygdala&searchBackButton=true&fulltextView=true
- Budaev, S., Dumitru, M. L., Enberg, K., Handeland, S. O., Higginson, A. D., Kristiansen , T. S., Opdal, A. F., Raislback, S. F., R√∏nnestad, I., Vollset, K. W., Mangel, M., & Giske, J. (2024). Premises for a digital twin of the Atlantic salmon in its world: agency, robustness, subjectivity, and prediction. Aquaculture, Fish, and Fisheries,4, e153. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aff2.153
- Dumitru, M. L. (2023). Brain Asymmetry is Globally Different in Males and Females: Exploring Cortical Volume, Area, Thickness, and Mean Curvature. Cerebral Cortex, 33, 11623-11633. https://academic.oup.com/cercor/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cercor/bhad396/7320109
- Dumitru, M. L., Korbmacher, M., & Bartsch, H. Male and Female Brain Coherence Models of Cognitive Performance andPsychopathology. (2022). bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.28.509939v1.abstract
- Kazimierczak, K., Craven, A. R., Ersland, L., Specht, K., Dumitru, M. L., Sandoy, L. B., & Hugdahl, K. (2022). Combined fMRI Region- and Network-Analysis Reveal New Insights of Top-Down Modulation of Bottom-Up Processes in Auditory Laterality. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.802319/full
- Dumitru, M. L., & Joergensen, G. H. Thought extramission: The eyes project conceptual maps at close distance. (2021). https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.18.456814v1.abstract
- Dumitru, M. L., & Pasqualotto, A. (2018). Helmets improve estimations of depth and visual angle to safe targets. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80(8), 1879-1884. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-018-1605-9
- Dumitru, M. L., & Joergensen, G. H. (2018). Logical connectives modulate attention to simulations evoked by the constituents they link together. Frontiers in Psychology, 08/2018; 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01358/full
- Dumitru, M. L.(2016). Gestalt-like representations hijack chunk-and-pass processing. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. https://www.proquest.com/openview/76f00cda60657b9054556bc5e4a797aa/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47829
- Dumitru, M. L., & Joergensen, G.H. (2016). Gestalt reasoning with conjunctions and disjunctions. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151774. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151774
- Pasqualotto, A., Dumitru, M. L., & Myachykov, A. (2016). Editorial: Multisensory Integration: Brain, Body, and World. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:2046. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02046/full
- Dumitru, M. L.(2015). Coherence across consciousness levels: Symmetric visual displays spare working memory resources. Consciousness and Cognition, 38, 139-149. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810015300477
- Dumitru, M. L., & Joergensen, G. H. (2015). Similarity judgments of same-category object representations: Effects of physical size, manipulability, and word frequency. Visual Cognition, 23 (7), 855-859. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13506285.2015.1093242
- Dumitru, M. L., & Joergensen, G. H. (2015). Effects of word-evoked object size on covert numerosity estimations. Frontiers in Psychology, 08/2015; 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00876/full
- Dumitru, M. L.(2014). Moving stimuli guide retrieval and (in) validation of coordination simulations. Cognitive Processing. 15 (3), 397-403. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10339-014-0604-6
- Dumitru, M. L., & Taylor, A. J. (2014). Or cues knowledge of alternatives: Evidence from priming. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 55 (2), 97-101. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjop.12100
- Dumitru, M. L., Joergensen, G. H., Cruickshank, A. G., & Altmann, G. T. M. (2013). Language-guided visual processing affects reasoning: The role of referential and spatial anchoring. Consciousness and Cognition, 22 (2), 562-571. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105381001300041X
Projects
60825 Hvordan hjernenettverk interagerer - betydning for forstaelse av horselshallusinasjoner
60748 Hjernelateralisering av oppmerksomhetskontroll etter kort meditasjonstrening
60932 Hjernemekanismer for oppmerksomhetskontroll til auditive og visuelle stimuli
NSD 395393 Impact of Prediction Error on Social Appraisal