Colzato's research is focused on how thinking and creativity are shaped. Her research often touches on popular topics and the resulting papers are discussed in popular media: examples include studies on exercise and creativity, the effect of odors on trust, and the effect of meditation on creative thinking.
Investigation
As of December 2019, Colzato's work at Leiden University is being investigated for various alleged breaches of academic integrity, including data manipulation, misattribution of authorship, and collection of blood samples without permission from the Medical Ethical board. The latter would be a criminal offense. Colzato has resigned from her position at Leiden University, and has requested a second opinion from the university's academic integrity committee. She also has pointed out that one of the accusers, Laura Steenbergen, has actually taken the blood samples and is the first and responsible author of one of the objected two articles, and argued that Leiden University has violated various rules and regulations throughout the investigation.
Selected works
Colzato,L.S., Jongkees, B.J., Sellaro, R., van den Wildenberg, W., & Hommel, B.. Eating to stop: Tyrosine supplementation enhances inhibitory control but not response execution. Neuropsychologia, 62, 398-402.
Colzato, L.S., Szapora, A., Lippelt, D. & Hommel, B.. Prior meditation practice modulates performance and strategy use in convergent- and divergent- thinking problems. Mindfulness.
Colzato, L. S., Waszack, F. Nieuwenhuis, S. T., Posthuma, D., & Hommel, B.. The flexible mind is associated with the Catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism: Evidence for a role of dopamine in the control of task switching. Neuropsychologia, 48, 2764-2768.
Colzato, L. S., van Leeuwen, P.J.A., van den Wildenberg, W., & Hommel, B.. DOOM’d to switch: Superior cognitive flexibility in players of first person shooter games. Front. Psychol, 1,
Sellaro, R., Derks, B., Nitsche, M.A., Hommel, B., van den Wildenberg, W.P.M., van Dam, K., Colzato, L.S.. Reducing prejudice through brain stimulation, Brain Stimulation,
Steenbergen, L., Sellaro, R., Stock, A.K., Beste, C., & Colzato, L.S.. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation enhances response selection during action cascading processes. European Neuropsychopharmacology.
Steenbergen, L., Sellaro, R., van Hemert, S., Bosch, J.A., & Colzato, L.S.. A randomized controlled trial to test the effect of multispecies probiotics on cognitive reactivity to sad mood. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
The university of Leiden recommended the retraction of two papers: However, the respective journals have not yet taken a decision and the articles are still available.
*Colzato L.,Steenbergen L., Sellaro R. The effect of gamma-enhancing binaural beats on the control of feature bindings. Exp Brain Res 2017 ;235:2125-2131.
*Steenbergen L., Colzato L. Overweight and Cognitive Performance: High Body Mass Index Is Associated with Impairment in Reactive Control during Task Switching. Front Nutr 2017; 4: 51.
