Publications

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  1. Journal articles
  2. Chapters
  3. Editorial articles
  4. Preprints

Journal articles

2025

  • van Mulukom, V. (2025). Keep It Real: Feelings of “realness” of event imaginings are associated with ease of imagining and absorption for episodic and fantastical imagination. Imagination, Cognition and Personality. Advance online publication. DOI

2024

  • van Mulukom, V. (2024). Sense-sational acting: Intuition in actors is supported by interoceptive, exteroceptive, and immersive abilities. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. DOI

2023

  • van Mulukom, V., Baimel, A., Maraldi, E., & Farias, M. (2023). Examining the relationship between metacognitive trust in thinking styles and supernatural beliefs. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 65(2), 206-22. DOI
  • Rahmani, M., van Mulukom, V. & Farias, M. (2023). Believing in the powers of mindfulness: A thematic narrative approach and the development of a new scale. Mindfulness, 14, 1689–1704. DOI
  • Brown, J., van Mulukom, V., Charles, S.J., & Farias, M. (2023). Do you need religion to enjoy the benefits of Church services? Social bonding, morality and quality of life among religious and secular congregations. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 15(2), 308-318. DOI
  • Burić, I., Farias, M., Kurtev, S., van Mulukom, V., Mee, C., Gould, L., Rehman, S., Parker, B., and Brazil, I.A. (2023). Feasibility and preliminary outcomes of intensive mindfulness and yoga on prisoners with personality disorders: A randomised controlled preliminary study. Brain Behavior and Immunity Integrative, 2, 100009. DOI
  • Messick, K.J., Jong, J., van Mulukom, V. & Farias, M. (2023). The Nontheistic Sacred: The Psychological Functions of Metal Music and Artefacts. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 33(3), 198-213. DOI
  • Tuncçenç, B., van Mulukom, V., and Newson, M. (2023). Social bonds are related to health behaviors and positive well-being globally. Science Advances, 9(2), eadd3715. DOI

2022

  • Charles, S. J., van Mulukom, V., Saraswati, A., Watts, F., Dunbar, R. I. M., Farias, M. (2022). Bending and Bonding: A randomized controlled trial on the socio-psychobiological effects of spiritual versus secular yoga practice on social bonding. Current Psychology, 42, 30970–30986. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Turpin, H., Haimila, R., Purzycki, B. G., Bendixen, T., Kundtová Klocová, E., Řezníček, D., Coleman, T. J. III, Maraldi, E., Sevinç, K., Schjoedt, U., Rutjens, B., & Farias, M. (2022). What do non-religious non-believers believe in? Secular worldviews around the world. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 15(1), 143-156. DOI pdf
  • Hoogeveen, S., Sarafoglou, […] van Mulukom, V. […], van Elk, M., and Wagenmakers, E. (2022). A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 13(3), 237-283. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Pummerer, L., Alper, S., Bai, M. H., Čavojová, V., Farias, J. E. M., Kay, C. S., Lazarevic, L., Lobato, E. J. C., Marinthe, G., Pavela Banai, I., Šrol, J. & Žeželj, I. (2022). Antecedents and consequences of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: a systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 301, 114912. DOI
  • Brown, J., van Mulukom, V., Jong, J., & Farias, M. (2022). Exploring the Relationship Between Church Worship, Social Bonding, and Moral Values. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 44(1), 3-22. DOI
  • Muzzulini, B. van Mulukom, V.,Kapitány, R. & Whitehouse, H. (2022). Shared Flashbulb Memories lead to Identity Fusion: Recalling the Defeat in the Brexit Referendum Produces Strong Psychological Bonds among Remain Supporters. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 11(3), 374–383. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. & de Wet, M. (2022). The Importance of Narrative and Intuitive Thought in Navigating our Realities. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 5(2), 61-64. DOI
  • Newson, M. van Mulukom, V., and Johns, S. (2022). Future orientation is associated with less lockdown rule breaking, even during large illegal gatherings. Futures, 135, 102883. DOI

2021

  • van Mulukom, V. (2021). The evolution of music as artistic cultural innovation expressing intuitive thought symbolically (commentary on ‘Music as a coevolved system for social bonding’ by Savage et al.). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e91. DOI
  • Newson, M., Khurana, R., Cazorla, F., and van Mulukom, V. (2021). ‘I get high with a little help from my friends’ – how raves can invoke identity fusion and lasting co-operation via transformative experiences. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 719596. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. & Lang, M. (2021). Religious Experiences Are Interpreted through Priors from Cultural Frameworks Supported by Imaginative Capacity Rather Than Special Cognition. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 7(1), 39-53. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Muzzulini, B., Rutjens, B. T., van Lissa, C.J., and Farias, M. (2021). The Psychological Impact of Threat and Lockdowns During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exacerbating Factors and Mitigating Actions. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 11(7), 1318–1329. DOI
  • Charles, S. J., van Mulukom, V., Brown, J. E., Watts, F., Dunbar, R. I. M., Farias, M. (2021). United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect. PLOS One, 16(1), e0242546. DOI

2020

  • Tasuji, T., Reese, E., van Mulukom, V., & Whitehouse, H. (2020). Band of Mothers: Childbirth as a Female Bonding Experience. PLOS One, 15(10), e0240175. DOI
  • Charles, S. J., Farias, M., van Mulukom, V., Saraswati, A, Watts, F., Dein, S., Dunbar, R. I. M. (2020). Blocking mu-opioid receptors inhibits social bonding in rituals. Biology Letters, 16, 20200485. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Patterson, R., & van Elk, M. (2020). Broadening Your Mind to Include Others: Links between serotonergic psychedelic experiences and maladaptive narcissism. Psychopharmacology, 237, 2725–2737. DOI
  • Wiebels, K., Addis, D.R., Moreau, D., van Mulukom, V., Onderdijk, K.E., & Roberts, R. P. (2020). Relational processing demands and the role of spatial context in the construction of episodic simulations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 46(8), 1424–1441. DOI

2019

  • van Mulukom, V. (2019). The Cognitive Science of Imagination and Religion. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 5(1), 5-20. DOI pdf

2017

  • Farias, M., van Mulukom, V., Kahane, G., Kreplin, U., Joyce, A., Soares, P., Oviedo, L., Hernu, M., Rokita, K., Savulescu, J., Möttönen, R. (2017). Supernatural Belief Is Not Modulated by Intuitive Thinking Style or Cognitive Inhibition. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 15100. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. (2017). Remembering Religious Rituals: Autobiographical Memories of High-Arousal Religious Rituals Considered from a Narrative Processing Perspective. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 7(3), 191-205. DOI pdf

2016

  • Roberts, R.P., Wiebels, K., Sumner, R.L., van Mulukom, V., Grady, C.L., Schacter, D.L., Addis, D.R. (2016). An fMRI investigation of the relationship between future imagination and cognitive flexibility. Neuropsychologia, 95, 156-172. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Schacter, D.L., Corballis, M.C., & Addis, D.R. (2016). The degree of disparateness of event details modulates future simulation construction, plausibility, and recall. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69 (2), 234-242. DOI

2013

  • van Mulukom, V.,Schacter, D.L., Corballis, M.C., & Addis, D.R. (2013). Re-Imagining the Future: Repetition Decreases Hippocampal Involvement in Future Simulation. PLOS One, 8(7), e69596. DOI

Chapters

  • Burić, I., Brazil, I.A., & van Mulukom, V. (2021). Individual differences in meditation outcomes. In: M. Farias, D. Brazier, and M. Lalljee (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Meditation (pp. 503-524), Oxford University Press, Oxford. DOI
  • Coleman, T.J. III, Messick, K. & van Mulukom, V. (2022). Atheism: A New Evolutionary Perspective on Non-Belief. In: Y. Lior & J.E. Lane (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion (pp. 130-150). Routledge, London. DOI
  • Mauritsen, A.L. & van Mulukom, V. (2023). Never mind the Gods: Explaining Unbelief and Non-religion. In: B. Purzycki & T. Bendixen (Eds.), The Minds of Gods: A Cross-Disciplinary Survey. Bloomsbury. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. (2020). The Evolution of Imagination and Fiction Through Generativity and Narrative. In J.C. Carroll, M. Clasen, and E. Jonsson (Eds), Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture (pp. 53-70). Springer, Cham. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V., Geertz, A.W., Clark, R., & Farias, M. (in press). Art performances and religious rituals: How transformative experiences can foster knowledge. In: A. Eikelboom & D. Newheiser (Eds), Spiritual Understanding in a Secular Age: Engaging Art as Religious Ritual, Bloomsbury Publishing. pdf

Editorial articles

  • van Mulukom, V. (2022). Imagination. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 6(2). DOI pdf
  • Carroll, J., Johnson, J.A., Jonsson, E., Jung, R.E., van Mulukom, V. (2022). Editorial: Imaginative culture and human nature: Evolutionary perspectives on the arts, religion, and ideology. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 999057. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. (2022). Imagination. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 6(1), 127-130. DOI pdf
  • Geertz, A.W., Nielbo, K.L. & van Mulukom, V. (2021). Methodology in the Cognitive Science of Religion. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 6(1-2), 5-9. DOI
  • van Mulukom, V. (2021). Imagination. Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 5(1), 121-124. DOI
  • Geertz, A.W., van Mulukom, V., & Nielbo, K.L. (2019). The cognitive science of religion: Wherefrom, whereto? Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 5(1), 1-4. DOI
  • Coleman, T.J. III, Jong, J., & van Mulukom, V. (2018). Introduction to the Special Issue: What are Religious Beliefs? Contemporary Pragmatism, 15(3), 279-283. DOI

Preprints

  • van Mulukom, V. (preprint) Trust in scientists and non-populist governments supports COVID-19 information and safeguarding behaviors. http://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/chy4b (open access)
  • van Mulukom, V. & Clasen, M. (preprint) The evolutionary functions of imagination and fiction and how they may contribute to psychological wellbeing during a pandemic. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wj4zg (open access)
  • Charles, S. J., van Mulukom, V., Farias, M., Brown, J. E., Delmonte, R., Maraldi, E., Turner, L., Watts, F., Watts, J., Dunbar, R. I. M. (preprint) Religious Rituals Increase Social Bonding and Pain Threshold. http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/my4hs (open access)