M&B doctoral candidates
Name
Supervisors
Doctoral project
Prof. Dr. Jonathan Flombaum
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Retinotopic mechanics derived using Newtonian physics
| Doctoral project | Retinotopic mechanics derived using Newtonian physics |
|---|---|
| Description | Despite decades of research, a unifying account of the functional correlates of retinotopic remapping remains elusive. To this end, the aim of my empirical investigation is to provide the first unified mechanistic understanding of the functional consequences of retinotopic remapping. In addition to this, my work also aims to provide the first psychophysical and computational account of what I refer to as the "peri-saccadic curvature of visual space”. |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Jonathan Flombaum Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny |
| Degrees obtained | BA (philosophy of history), MSc (psychology conversion), MPhil (specialization in color vision) |
| Institute | Charité Medical Faculty Berlin; Yale University, Department of Neuroscience |
| Cohort | 2015 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Academia.edu | https://hu-berlin.academia.edu/IfedayoEmmanuelAdeyefaOlasupo |
Elisa Filevich Ph.D.
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn
Metacognition of action in Parkinson’s disease
| Doctoral project | Metacognition of action in Parkinson’s disease |
|---|---|
| Description | Metacognition is introspection into our own cognitive processes. Up to date, metacognitive research has been focusing on visual and memory domains, with little attention given to the motor domain. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an interesting case for metacognition of action, as it is characterized not only with motor, but also with cognitive symptoms. Some metacognitive deficits have been observed in PD as well. However, it is not clear how far they extend. In my project, I will first study metacognitive ability in PD. If it is poorer in PD than in healthy participants, it can be a potential point for intervention. Second, I will look how metacognition of action relates to metacognition in other domains. This will inform us about domain-specificity or generality of metacognitive mechanisms. |
| Funding | 65% research position, Freigeist fellowship Elisa Filevich, Volkswagen Stiftung |
| Supervisors | Elisa Filevich Ph.D. Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience / Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | 030 / 2093-6266 |
| polina.arbuzova-please remove this text-@bccn-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | https://twitter.com/polinaarb |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Polina_Arbuzova |
Prof. Dr. Norbert Kathmann
Prof. Dr. Stephan Brandt
Prof. Dr. Stephan Brandt
Efficacy of physiological stimulation in modulating neurobiological markers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
| Doctoral project | Efficacy of physiological stimulation in modulating neurobiological markers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |
|---|---|
| Description | The aim of my project is to elucidate the role of overactive error monitoring in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Hyperactive error monitoring is one of the most robust psychophysiological alterations in OCD and may qualify as a neurobiological marker for the disorder. In my project, EEG will be used to assess electrophysiological correlates of error processing in patients with OCD. By employing a neurophysiological stimulation technique, I aim to answer the question whether neural correlates of error processing can be modulated in these patients and how this modulation affects obsessive-compulsive symptomatology. The overarching goal of my thesis is to increase our understanding of how specific neurocognitive functions contribute to complex psychopathological symptoms. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Norbert Kathmann Prof. Dr. Stephan Brandt |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| luisa.balzus-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de |
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Untrustworthy gossip: Effects on person perception and moral judgement
| Doctoral project | Untrustworthy gossip: Effects on person perception and moral judgement |
|---|---|
| Description | When gossiping with colleagues, reading news, or browsing social media, we constantly encounter verbal information about other people that may or may not be true and meaningful. I investigate how unreliable affective information about a person influences how we perceive and morally judge them. I use electrophysiological correlates of brain activity (ERPs) to study how perceiving their face and appraising their character is shaped by what we’ve heard about them. |
| Funding | Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 3: Language Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology, Neurocognitive Psychology; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julia_Baum2 |
| Funding | DAAD GSSP scholarship |
|---|---|
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Marcel Brass N.N. |
| M&B topics | Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Institute | Social Intelligence Group, Department of Psychology & Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Communication beyond form: How the brain processes communicative intention
| Doctoral project | Communication beyond form: How the brain processes communicative intention |
|---|---|
| Description | Language interacts with the context in which it occurs, meaning that a same linguistic expression can be used by a speaker to communicate different things. In other words, the communicative action of an utterance and its physical form can be considered independent to a certain degree. The aim of my doctoral project is to understand how the brain encodes different communicative intentions (speech act types) conveyed by the same physical utterance and to elucidate whether certain brain regions play a causal role in disambiguating between different possible interpretations of the same utterance (for example in the case of indirect speech acts). |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 3: Language Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Freie Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie, Brain Language Laboratory |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| boux-please remove this text-@zedat.fu-berlin.de |
Elisa Filevich PhD
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Sense of agency within a metacognitive framework
| Doctoral project | Sense of agency within a metacognitive framework |
|---|---|
| Description | The sense of agency is the feeling of intentionally moving our body and through it, controlling the environment. The sense of agency is central to our daily experiences, and dysfunctions of agency are commonly reported in several psychiatric and movement related conditions. In spite of the plethora of studies already conducted to understand the human sense of agency and the neural mechanisms underlying it, there is still no consensus regarding the nature of this experience. This may be due to the diversity in the definitions, experimental paradigms and agency reports employed. This project addresses these problems and aims to provide a unified paradigm and theoretical framework where the different definitions can be tested together and therefore directly compared. We will use a novel experimental paradigm to investigate the sense of agency by systematically modifying its different components (the movement itself vs. it’s effects on the environment). We will also use metacognitive methods that will allow us to remove confounds (most importantly, response biases in subjective measures) that are often present in the typical agency task. Once we validate the paradigm, we will combine it with neurophysiological measures like electroencephalography (EEG) that will allow us to draw distinctions between the different components of agency —if they exist— at the neural level. Together, by unifying different approaches to the study of agency on the one hand, and by framing agency within the broader framework of metacognitive monitoring, this project may help explain the differences between the disparate results existing in the literature, and lay some theoretical grounds to move forwards in the field. |
| Funding | DAAD scholarship |
| Supervisors | Elisa Filevich PhD Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| charalaa-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | http://metamotorlab.filevich.com/profile_AngelikiCharalampak... |
Prof. Dr. York Winter
Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz
Prof. Dr. Randolf Menzel
Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz
Prof. Dr. Randolf Menzel
The value of information in decision-making in nectar-drinking bats
| Doctoral project | The value of information in decision-making in nectar-drinking bats |
|---|---|
| Description | Animals have been seen to violate the principles of rationality by choosing informative but low-energy rewards instead of non-informative, high-energy rewards. The question is whether Glossophaga soricina, a nectar-drinking bat which should value both information and energetic reward highly, also behaves irrationally. The free-flying animals will be studied using an electronic operant wall, and hypotheses, explanations and mathematical models underlying their behaviour will be explored. |
| Funding | DAAD scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. York Winter Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz Prof. Dr. Randolf Menzel |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| shambhavi.chidambaram-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de |
| Doctoral project | Role of emotion in future episodic thinking |
|---|---|
| Description | The focus of my project is towards gaining insights into the link between episodic memories and episodic future thinking. The key questions of my project are: Does the valence of our episodic memories play a significant role in simulating future episodic events? If yes, what are the neural correlates of this past-future link? Can aberrations of this past-future link influence decision-making processes? |
| Funding | DAAD |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren Dr. Roland Benoit |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Freie Universität, Berlin; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| aroma.dabas-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aroma_Dabas |
| Academia.edu | https://mind-and-brain.academia.edu/AromaDabas |
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
(Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition)
(Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition)
| Funding | Salaried research position Max Planck School of Cognition |
|---|---|
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen (Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition) |
| Institute | Institute of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Neural correlates of stereotypes and prejudice
| Doctoral project | Neural correlates of stereotypes and prejudice |
|---|---|
| Description | This project examines how social biases are created through both prejudice (affective response) and stereotypes (semantic associations). Some of the essential questions are: Are these dissociable processes with distinct neural networks? Does the brain react similarly or differently across different social divisions? Do stress/arousal affect both processes or just the affective component? |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology |
| Cohort | 2016 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
(Associated candidate through Joint Degree with King's College London)
(Associated candidate through Joint Degree with King's College London)
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen (Associated candidate through Joint Degree with King's College London) |
|---|---|
| Institute | Philosophy, King's College London; Institute of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Consciousness across sensory modalities, expectations, and predictive coding
| Doctoral project | Consciousness across sensory modalities, expectations, and predictive coding |
|---|---|
| Description | My project investigates the influence of prior expectations on somatosensory, visual, and auditory awareness from a predictive coding perspective, and attempts to disentangle modality-specific from supra-modal mechanisms of consciousness. Using EEG and fMRI in combination with causal modelling and multivariate pattern analysis, I aim to shed light on the recurrent neural processes presumably underlying both (multi-)sensory consciousness and the top-down signals constantly generated by the predictive brain. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| jona.foerster-please remove this text-@fu-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jona_Foerster |
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Influence of perceptual and reward uncertainty on reward learning
| Doctoral project | Influence of perceptual and reward uncertainty on reward learning |
|---|---|
| Description | The project aims at understanding how participants learn and make reward-based decisions under different levels and types of uncertainty. The central question of the project tries to understand if participants use perceptual belief states or categorical biases to learn from reward feedback. It also aims at understanding how these cognitive processes are represented in the brain. |
| Funding | DAAD GSSP scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| prashantig25-please remove this text-@zedat.fu-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Prashanti-Ganesh |
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Prof. Dr. Klaus-Robert Müller
Prof. Dr. Klaus-Robert Müller
State-dependent enhancement of creative cognition
| Doctoral project | State-dependent enhancement of creative cognition |
|---|---|
| Description | Creative cognition involves distinct mental processes that map to multiple brain states across different spatio-temporal scales. To disentangle, we aim to use a brain state dependent task (BSDT) based close loop framework during creative problem solving. BSDT monitors brain states in real time and alters the environment (e.g., presenting a new stimulus) based on target brain state(s); thus, it provides a crucial causal link between specific brain activation pattern(s) and mental processes. |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer Prof. Dr. Klaus-Robert Müller |
| M&B topics | Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | MSc Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Goldsmiths University of London |
| Institute | Technische Universität Berlin; Charite - Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Cohort | 2015 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amna_Ghani |
| Academia.edu | https://goldsmiths.academia.edu/AmnaGhani |
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
The functional architecture of somatosensation: a predictive coding account
| Doctoral project | The functional architecture of somatosensation: a predictive coding account |
|---|---|
| Description | The predictive coding framework suggests that the brain resolves situations of perceptual uncertainty by continuously updating a generative model of the world. The implementation of predictive coding may be studied via a detailed investigation of the functional architecture of human somatosensation and the asymmetry between bottom-up and top-down signalling. This will be accomplished through a series of two experiments using fMRI while applying somatosensory stimuli. First, 3 Tesla fMRI will allow for whole brain coverage, which will be followed up with high resolution 7 Tesla fMRI to study layer-specific connectivity. Computational modelling based on predictive coding will be employed to study the connectivity. |
| Funding | DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| samgijsen-please remove this text-@gmail.com |
Prof. Dr. Angela Friederici
Prof. Dr. Pia Knoeferle
Prof. Dr. Pia Knoeferle
Voice–speech interactions in infant phoneme acquisition
| Doctoral project | Voice–speech interactions in infant phoneme acquisition |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD project, I investigate phoneme acquisition in infants: The process in which an infant learns which sounds (vowels and consonants) are the relevant building blocks of words in their native language. When acquiring phonemes, infants are presented with a very variable input: Speakers differ widely in how they produce a given phoneme. However, in order to distil meaning, infants need to ignore this speaker variation. Since variability within one speaker is considerably smaller than within a group of speakers, the project investigates whether infants use voice information to distinguish speakers in order to reduce this acoustic variation. Specifically, we will test how the number of speakers and the familiarity of these speakers influence phoneme acquisition by means of EEG and fNIRS. |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Angela Friederici Prof. Dr. Pia Knoeferle |
| M&B topics | Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| govaart-please remove this text-@cbs.mpg.de | |
| Homepage | https://www.cbs.mpg.de/employees/govaart |
Prof. Dr. Radoslaw Cichy
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Objects and space: understanding how object and location information are processed in the real world
| Doctoral project | Objects and space: understanding how object and location information are processed in the real world |
|---|---|
| Description | In my research, I aim to characterize the neural dynamics of object and scene perception in a spatio-temporally resolved manner. Extensive research on object recognition in the brain has shown that visual object representations hierarchically emerge along the regions of the ventral visual stream while category-orthogonal information is gradually lost. In this PhD project I will investigate how object representations and object category-orthogonal information change in the ventral stream when objects are presented embedded in naturalistic scenes. To address this, I will apply multivariate pattern analysis and representational similarity analysis to human electrophysiology and neuroimaging data. |
| Funding | Research position, Emmy Noether grant |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Radoslaw Cichy Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Freie Universität Berlin, AG Neural Dynamics of Visual Cognition; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| monikag-please remove this text-@zedat.fu-berlin.de |
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
(Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition)
(Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition)
| Funding | Salaried research position Max Planck School of Cognition |
|---|---|
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen (Associated candidate through Max Planck School of Cognition) |
| Institute | Institute of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate, Max Planck School of Cognition |
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
The role of recurrent processing in somesthesis
| Doctoral project | The role of recurrent processing in somesthesis |
|---|---|
| Description | My project is concerned with the relation of feedforward and feedback processing in the hierarchy of the somatosensory cortex to tactile stimulation. Using electrophysiological measures like EEG and/or ECoG, combined with computational modelling approaches the project aims to identify neuronal processes involved in conscious somatosensory perception. Hierarchical recurrent processing is an important feature of predictive coding accounts of perception which can thus provide an interesting explanatory framework for putative findings of neuronal interactions in the somatosensory system. |
| Funding | Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| m.grundei-please remove this text-@fu-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | http://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/arbeitsbereich... |
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Top-down interference in human random sequence generation
| Doctoral project | Top-down interference in human random sequence generation |
|---|---|
| Description | The ability to generate random or unpredictable behaviour is adaptive but cognitively demanding. It is central e.g. for exploration, improvisation under novel situations, breaking a deadlock when facing indecision and an optimal strategy when a predator’s ability to predict the next move is costly. It has been reliably shown that animals and humans are able to switch into a stochastic mode when it is implicitly advantageous for them. However, when explicitly instructed to produce random response sequences, the performance is significantly worse and resulting sequences departure from randomness in predictable ways. We want to investigate how top-down control processes interfere with the human ability to produce randomness which will aid in understanding whether and how the brain flips a coin. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain Scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin / Charité |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | +49 173 5348389 |
| maja.guseva-please remove this text-@bccn-berlin.de |
Dr. Radoslaw M. Cichy
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
How does each of the core regions active during vision represent objects?
| Doctoral project | How does each of the core regions active during vision represent objects? |
|---|---|
| Description | When we look around us, what we see is translated into signals that are processed in the occipital part of our brain, the visual system. Previous research has shown, that the core regions responsible for the recognition of objects are organized in a hierarchical fashion in the so-called ventral visual stream. However, how exactly these areas represent objects remains ill understood. While topography (how neurons are arranged on the cortical sheet) is relatively well understood in lower and middle visual areas, specificity (what aspects of the visual information do neurons respond to) is not. This pattern is reversed for higher visual areas. During my PhD I aim to further deepen this understanding in both low and high visual areas, using a combination of EEG, fMRI and Deep Neural Networks. |
| Funding | ECN scholarship |
| Supervisors | Dr. Radoslaw M. Cichy Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Freie Universität Berlin, AG Neural Dynamics of Visual Cognition |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| g.haeberle-please remove this text-@fu-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Greta_Haeberle |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn
Dr. Andreas Horn
Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn
Dr. Andreas Horn
Transdiagnostic perspectives on connectomic deep brain stimulation
| Doctoral project | Transdiagnostic perspectives on connectomic deep brain stimulation |
|---|---|
| Description | Deep brain stimulation (DBS) unfolds its therapeutic potentials by modulating widespread pathological brain circuits, which are likely symptom- rather than disease-specific. Inspired by emerging transdiagnostic symptom conceptions, within my PhD, I strive to establish predictive models of structural (dMRI-derived) and functional (rsfMRI-derived) symptom network targets associated with beneficial or detrimental stimulation effects within the neuropsychiatric spectrum and across pathologies (e.g., in Parkinson’s disease or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). A resulting high-resolution, neurocircuit-derived taxonomy of DBS effects may be harnessed to personalize surgical targeting via unique blends of symptom networks weighted as a function of phenotypical profiling at the single-subject level. |
| Funding | ECN scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Andrea Kühn Dr. Andreas Horn |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Network Stimulation Laboratory Berlin/Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology (CCM), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| barbara.hollunder-please remove this text-@charite.de | |
| Homepage | http://www.netstim.org/ |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barbara_Hollunder |
Prof. Dr. Radoslaw M. Cichy
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
An interplay of feedforward and feedback signals supporting visual cognition
| Doctoral project | An interplay of feedforward and feedback signals supporting visual cognition |
|---|---|
| Description | When we are shopping for clothes and are too lazy to try on another t-shirt, we often just imagine how it looks on us. This everyday task as well as many others, is mediated by feedback signals, that alter the incoming feedforward signals. The current project will study the spatiotemporal dynamics of feedforward and feedback information flows in the human brain using high-resolution 7-Tesla fMRI and M/EEG. We will use an imagery paradigm to induce feedback signals and multivariate pattern analysis to explore neural feedforward and feedback information separately. Furthermore, merging the data from the fMRI and M/EEG experiments using representational similarity analysis, we will obtain a complete spatiotemporal mapping for both processes. |
| Funding | DFG Emmy Noether-Grant / Mind & Brain Scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Radoslaw M. Cichy Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| iamshchinina-please remove this text-@gmail.com | |
| Homepage | http://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/en/einrichtungen/arbeitsbere... |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Polina_Iamshchinina |
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg
Neurolinguistic investigations of causal links between the mechanisms for language and perception
| Doctoral project | Neurolinguistic investigations of causal links between the mechanisms for language and perception |
|---|---|
| Description | Can language influence our perception? Does labelling something make it easier for us to perceive it? These questions are central to my thesis project, in which I investigate the causal links between language and perception. The crux of my research involves tactile perception and discrimination before and after associating labels with tactile patterns. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain Scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller Prof. Dr. Felix Blankenburg |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | BA Spanish, MA German and Theoretical Linguistics, MA European Linguistics |
| Institute | Freie Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie, Brain Language Laboratory |
| Cohort | 2015 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | +49 30 83851170 |
| tally.miller-please remove this text-@fu-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/v/brainlang/te... |
Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Behavioral and cortical contagion of ticklishness
| Doctoral project | Behavioral and cortical contagion of ticklishness |
|---|---|
| Funding | Salaried research position AG Brecht |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Biology & Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience; |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | +49 30 2093 6716 |
| lena.kaufmann-please remove this text-@bccn-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lena-Kaufmann-4 |
Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs
Elisa Filevich, PhD
Elisa Filevich, PhD
The role of volition and awareness in sense of agency
| Doctoral project | The role of volition and awareness in sense of agency |
|---|---|
| Description | Whenever we perform an action, this action is accompanied by the faint and elusive feeling of being the cause of an event in the outside world. This so-called sense of agency (SoA) is thought to strongly rely on the conscious decision for, as well as the voluntary control over the action. Interested in the role of volition and awareness in sense of agency, I want to examine whether these two components are necessary prerequisites for SoA or whether we can experience agency even in the absence of volitional control and action-awareness. In my PhD project, I plan to investigate this issue by means of very small fixational eye movements that are performed in the absence of voluntary control and awareness but nevertheless bear the potential to influence sense of agency. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs Elisa Filevich, PhD |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Psychology |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | +49 30 2093-6789 |
| jan.klanke-please remove this text-@posteo.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan_Nikolas_Klanke |
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Prof. Dr. Werner Sommer
Prof. Dr. Werner Sommer
Virtually real cognition? Assessing human cognition in virtual environments
| Doctoral project | Virtually real cognition? Assessing human cognition in virtual environments |
|---|---|
| Description | What is the epistemological and ontological status of human cognitions that are elicited in virtual reality (VR) environments? Are they just as real as non-virtual cognitions (Chalmers, 2017)? How much can they tell us about cognition in the “real” world (or vice versa)? Are the underlying processes significantly shaped by the level of presence in the VR? The rise and the propagation of immersive VR technologies poses important questions to the research on mind and brain, and provides a new quiver of tools to approach traditional issues of the cognitive sciences. During my doctoral project I want to examine these tools and their interaction with our cognition. I will use virtual environments with different degrees of immersion, behavioural measures, and neuroimaging techniques (EEG/fNIRS). |
| Funding | BMBF Project |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer Prof. Dr. Werner Sommer |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Psychologie; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| felix_klotzsche-please remove this text-@web.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Felix_Klotzsche |
| Academia.edu | https://hu-berlin.academia.edu/FelixKlotzsche |
Prof. Dr. Christine Heim
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Experience-driven plasticity of the genital somatosensory field
| Doctoral project | Experience-driven plasticity of the genital somatosensory field |
|---|---|
| Description | A variety of studies demonstrated that different forms of childhood maltreatment are associated with regionally highly-specific cortical thinning, precisely affecting areas that are critical to the perception and processing of behaviors implicated in the type of adversity. With the aim of getting insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of decreased cortical representation of the genital somatosensory field after exposure to childhood sexual abuse (CSA), we will (1) examine the relationship between sexual behavior and cortical thickness of the genital field in healthy, non-abused female adults with precise location of the field using fMRI, and (2) investigate cortical organization in this field in adult women with and without CSA, depending on sexual behavior and sexual dysfunction. |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Christine Heim Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité Universitätsmedizin Campus Mitte, Institute of Medical Psychology |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| andrea.knop-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Paul
Prof. Dr. Friedemann Paul
Differences in functional and structural brain alterations between aquaporin-4-antibody-positive and aquaporin-4-antibody-negative neuromyelitis optica
| Doctoral project | Differences in functional and structural brain alterations between aquaporin-4-antibody-positive and aquaporin-4-antibody-negative neuromyelitis optica |
|---|---|
| Description | Neuromyelitis optica is an autoimmune disease that primarily manifests itself in inflammation of optic nerves and spinal cord. It is mostly caused by antibodies for aquaporin-4, a water channel protein found in central nervous system. However, some patients repeatedly test negative for the presence of this antibody. In my project, I compare the structural and functional imaging data, as well as measures of mood and cognitive functioning between these two groups of patients. This will help us understand how different antibodies can bring about alterations not only in brain structure, but also in what are traditionally considered to be purely psychological phenomena. |
| Funding | Elsa Neumann scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Friedemann Paul |
| M&B topics | Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité - Universtätsmedizin Berlin, Cognition in neurological disorders group |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| komnenicd-please remove this text-@gmail.com | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Darko_Komnenic |
Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Attention and sensory integration in active vision of moving objects
| Doctoral project | Attention and sensory integration in active vision of moving objects |
|---|---|
| Description | Our project aims to investigate how visual stability is established despite object motion and eye-movement induced shifts of the retinal image. We hope to demonstrate that visuospatial attention plays a major role in establishing stability and optimizing oculomotor behavior. Specifically, we intend to show that before a saccade to a moving target, attention shifts (i) to the target’s predicted spatiotopic position at saccade landing, and (ii) to its predicted retinal location, thereby alerting neuronal cells of an incoming stimulus. We hope to derive a computational model in which saccade and object motion vectors are integrated to enable a predictive shift of neuronal activation as evidenced by single-cell recordings. |
| Funding | Humboldt-Universität |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Institute of Psychology, Humboldt-University Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| lisa.m.kroell-please remove this text-@gmail.com |
Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs
Prof. Dr. Radoslaw Cichy
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Prof. Dr. Radoslaw Cichy
Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen
Perceptual decisions for fast motor responses under uncertainty
| Doctoral project | Perceptual decisions for fast motor responses under uncertainty |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD-project I am looking into the links between perception and action. The project investigates, how fast new information can be integrated into an ongoing motor plan. In particular, I will look at motor plans in different movement effectors (eyes, hands) and compare the perceptual processes feeding into these movement plans. For my PhD project, I use psychophysical methods combined with eye- and motion-tracking. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Martin Rolfs Prof. Dr. Radoslaw Cichy Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Faculty of Life Sciences / Institute of Psychology |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | 030/2093-4864 |
| clara.kuper-please remove this text-@posteo.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clara_Kuper |
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Neural mechanisms of lexical access in conversational context
| Doctoral project | Neural mechanisms of lexical access in conversational context |
|---|---|
| Description | In dialogues, interlocutors come to align their global representations, or so-called situation models, of the topic under discussion. I investigate what consequences an established situation model may have for lexical access during subsequent word production. Specifically, I examine whether a thematic context introduced by the narrative of a task partner can create a transient semantic space, where objects, perceived as unrelated without the thematic context, are treated as semantically-related. In my project, the flexibility of human semantic system in a dialogue-like situation is first tested via reaction time measurement. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) will also be applied to pinpoint the underlying brain mechanisms. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain, Elsa-Neumann-Stipendium, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek |
| M&B topics | Topic 3: Language Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| hsin-pei.lin-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | https://www.psychologie.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/91680521 |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hsin_Pei_Lin |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner
Mechanisms and disturbances in spatial memory consolidation
| Doctoral project | Mechanisms and disturbances in spatial memory consolidation |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD project, I want to investigate the temporal dynamics of spatial learning and memory consolidation. I will develop 3D virtual navigation tasks to examine (1) potentially disturbing effects of anaesthetics on the early consolidation phase, (2) alterations in spatial learning and consolidation in neurological patient groups (e.g. ALS, MTL resection) and (3) the neural dynamics of spatial memory consolidation in healthy subjects over time with fMRI. |
| Funding | SFB 1315 doctoral research position |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Klinik für Neurologie, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| patrizia.maier-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Functional connectivity profiles and relational memory deficits in patients with limbic encephalitis
| Doctoral project | Functional connectivity profiles and relational memory deficits in patients with limbic encephalitis |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD project I investigate resting-state functional connectivity in patients with autoimmune diseases of the brain. First, I want to use resting-state fMRI data to identify a patient's disease earlier than usual based on functional connectivity measures. Secondly, I will examine functional connectivity differences in distinct variants of autoimmune encephalitis and their effect son cognitive functioning. Thirdly, I will assess relational memory in patients with limbic autoimmune encephalitis as a model for bilateral hippocampal damage. The goal of my PhD project is to facilitate clinical diagnostics using fMRI, help to elucidate differences in autoimmune encephalitis variants and generate knowledge about both the processing of relational memory and the effects of functional connectivity variations on cognition in the human brain. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology |
| Cohort | 2016 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| mantwill.m-please remove this text-@googlemail.com |
Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
The effects of affective salience and prior probability in binocular rivalry
| Doctoral project | The effects of affective salience and prior probability in binocular rivalry |
|---|---|
| Description | If perception is a result of probabilistic inference, how is that we may come to perceive objects of behavioural importance that may be relatively rare? Using predictive coding as a theoretical framework, this project proposes that the behavioural significance of an object may be encoded via its affective salience, which may act as a source of top-down modulation in perceptual inference. To investigate this, a binocular rivalry study will be conducted to investigate how affective salience and prior probability interact in the formation of visual percepts, while a follow-up fMRI study will be conducted to probe how these different processes may be represented in the brain. |
| Funding | DAAD International Scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Cohort | 2019 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| joshua.martin2902-please remove this text-@gmail.com |
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Reward-related processing of social non-verbal cues in Autism Spectrum Disorders
| Doctoral project | Reward-related processing of social non-verbal cues in Autism Spectrum Disorders |
|---|---|
| Description | The aim of my project is to better understand how individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) process social non-verbal cues (facial expressions, gestures, and body posture). To address this issue, I will design a paradigm suitable for measuring both neural (ERPs) and other psychophysiological indicators of social and non-social reward processing (e.g. eye-tracking measures). Furthermore, I will investigate whether motion (videos instead of static pictures) and complexity (all of, or one of the following: facial, hand and posture cues) of social stimuli aid or impede feedback responsiveness in individuals with ASD. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2016 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| matyjekm-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de |
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Prof. Dr. Soyoung Q Park
Prof. Dr. Soyoung Q Park
Unconventional eating behaviour and its effect on brain circuits and on mind-gut-feedback
| Doctoral project | Unconventional eating behaviour and its effect on brain circuits and on mind-gut-feedback |
|---|---|
| Description | In this project, we want to study the effects of an unconventional diet on food decision-making, brain connectivity and other cognitive and sensory processes implicated in choosing between food items. It has been shown that a change in diet affects our intestinal microbial composition and other metabolic markers, however, cognitive effects have not been fully investigated yet. We suggest that unconventional eaters manifest changes not only on a biological but also on a cognitive level (i.e. more self-control). We are interested in whether gut microbiotic status is predictive of brain connectivity in brain regions related to the adoption of an unconventional diet. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer Prof. Dr. Soyoung Q Park |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| medawar-please remove this text-@cbs.mpg.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Evelyn_Medawar2 |
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Empathy plasticity and the empathic brain: an EEG-accompanied training study employing the computer-assisted program Zirkus Empathico with preschoolers
| Doctoral project | Empathy plasticity and the empathic brain: an EEG-accompanied training study employing the computer-assisted program Zirkus Empathico with preschoolers |
|---|---|
| Description | My doctoral project examines the development and plasticity of empathy looking at both the construct’s behavioral and neuronal correlates. Mental health problems in children have dramatically increased. A first indicator of dysfunctional, psychological, and behavioral patterns are deficient social and emotional competences. Continuous fostering of these competences should therefore already start at a very young age to prevent, correct, or compensate problematic thoughts and behaviors. Therefore, the computer-assisted program Zirkus Empathico will be employed in a longitudinal study design within my PhD project, with children’s behavioral and neuronal variables measured before and after the training to examine if improvements in empathic responses can be achieved. |
| Funding | Scholarship from Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Psycholgoy, AG Social Cognition, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| sandra.naumann-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra_Naumann3 |
Prof. Dr. Pia Knoeferle
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Linguistic and non-linguistic context effects on language processing in native and non-native speakers
| Doctoral project | Linguistic and non-linguistic context effects on language processing in native and non-native speakers |
|---|---|
| Description | Event representations and morpho-syntactic violations of tense/aspect distinctions. I use EEG and Eye Tracking to investigate on-line processing and prediction of events based on grammatical tense/aspect forms. The main aim is to investigate how morphological verb forms and semantic time reference interact and affect how we perceive events and process temporal relations. A secondary aim is to see how this differs between groups with diverse linguistic profiles. |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Pia Knoeferle Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of German Studies and Linguistics: Psycholinguistics |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Angela D. Friederici
Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger
Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger
The sensitive period for associative learning of non-adjacent dependencies in verbal and non-verbal material
| Doctoral project | The sensitive period for associative learning of non-adjacent dependencies in verbal and non-verbal material |
|---|---|
| Description | Young children are able to learn the rules of their native language in an associative, automatic way. Adults, on the other hand, have to learn a second language in a more explicit, controlled way. One kind of rules that have to be learned when acquiring a language are non-adjacent dependencies. These are grammatical dependencies that span across one or more other elements of a sentence, for example the “is” and “-ing” in: “The sister is singing.” In my thesis, I want to investigate when in development the ability to learn non-adjacent dependencies in natural language associatively is lost. By also investigating non-adjacent dependency processing for non-linguistic material, I want to further find out whether this developmental trajectory is specific to language or domain-general. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Angela D. Friederici Prof. Dr. Isabell Wartenburger |
| M&B topics | Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences |
| Cohort | 2016 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| paulm-please remove this text-@cbs.mpg.de |
Prof. Dr. Felix Bermpohl
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek
Measuring social processing regarding children in parents and non-parents
| Doctoral project | Measuring social processing regarding children in parents and non-parents |
|---|---|
| Description | Of all the skills parents teach their children, social competences are among the most important. Theory of mind, empathy and compassion are crucial to master social interactions. However, if parents have deficits in these areas, they could pass them on to their children. To investigate such an effect, one needs appropriate tasks that feature children in their stimuli, do not rely on self-report and do not have ceiling effects. My project aims to develop such tasks and evaluate them in healthy parents. The tasks will then be used to investigate outcomes of mentalization-based interventions on parents and shed further light on the nature of social competences in the context of parenting and mental disorders. |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Felix Bermpohl Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek |
| M&B topics | Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of psychology |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| irene-sophia.plank-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer
N.N.
N.N.
Predicting time perception during auditory stimulation by computational and dopaminergic modulations
| Doctoral project | Predicting time perception during auditory stimulation by computational and dopaminergic modulations |
|---|---|
| Description | Time perception is a fluctuating process considerably determined by exogenous (environmental complexity) and endogenous (dopaminergic processing) factors. In line with the Neural Magnitude approach, I assume that the level of neural synchronization to temporally structured auditory stimuli (EEG) is predictive of distortions in perceptual time making it possible to establish a causal relationship between rhythmic complexity, temporal processing in the brain and perceptual time using advanced statistical learning and mediation analyses. Indirectly manipulating frontostriatal dopaminergic activity (TBS) will finally inform us whether non-invasive interventions could be developed for patients on the Schizotypal spectrum, showing aberrancies in dopaminergic processing and perceptual time. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer N.N. |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Memory independent spatial navigation in clinical and experimental settings
| Doctoral project | Memory independent spatial navigation in clinical and experimental settings |
|---|---|
| Description | In my doctoral project, I will study impaired and unimpaired memory independent topographical orientation in old age. I developed an assessment, which integrates core cognitive processes of navigation like mental rotation, sense of direction and the synchronisation of ego- and allocentric perspective, without the necessity for subjects to memorise routes or landmarks. I intend to use this tool, to differentiate between subjects with and without difficulties in topographical orientation and to explore neural activation patterns in successful vs. insufficient orientation using fMRI. Building on these findings, I plan to study the effects of enhanced excitability of neurons in regions that are involved in successful orientation on behavioural performance in navigation with tDCS. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren |
| M&B topics | Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Neurology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| sophia.rekers-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Tade Spranger
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Tade Spranger
Fixing broken brains – The human right to mental self-determination of legally incompetent persons in favor of or against psychiatric neurosurgery
| Doctoral project | Fixing broken brains – The human right to mental self-determination of legally incompetent persons in favor of or against psychiatric neurosurgery |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD thesis standard questions like the legal requirements for the information duties of doctors and the need for the ascent of legally incompetent persons will be discussed. The focus will lie on relatively new issues like the possibilities of psychiatric patients to obtain PNS without or against their proxy’s consent (when patient prefers PNS over other medical treatment or detention). Moreover, the thesis will contain suggestions as to the establishment of an effective control system (monitoring patient care, study setup and outcomes). In an outlook, I will address the regulation of legally relevant behavior induced by functional and/or psychiatric neurosurgery (buying binge, gambling addiction, criminal behavior, …) and the possibility of applying PNS beyond the strictly clinical setting. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter Prof. Dr. Tade Spranger |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | 1. juristisches Staatsexamen, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Maitrise en droit (international law), Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas; Licence en droit (law of the European Union), Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas |
| Institute | Juristische Fakultät, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
| Cohort | 2015 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Phone | +49 (0) 173 7028358 |
| lucia.reuter-please remove this text-@posteo.de | |
| Homepage | http://mindandbrain.charite.de/en/people/team_rg_mab/lucia_r... |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lucia_Reuter |
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Deter
Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Deter
Resilience to stress – a positive account
| Doctoral project | Resilience to stress – a positive account |
|---|---|
| Description | In my project, I want to investigate the effects of positive reappraisal on stress resilience. Specifically, I postulate that a quick and complete psychological, cardiovascular, and endocrine recovery from a laboratory stressor can be seen as an index for resilient stress processing, and I hypothesize that this recovery can be enhanced by setting participants into a state of positive reappraisal before they undergo the stress test. Moreover, using resting state fMRI, I plan to investigate how this relates to flexible interactions between neural networks during the recovery phase. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Deter |
| M&B topics | Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité Universitätsmedizin Campus Mitte, Department for psychiatry and psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain research |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| antje.riepenhausen-please remove this text-@charite.de | |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antje_Riepenhausen |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Heinz |
|---|---|
| Cohort | 2013 |
| Status | Dotoral candidate |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer
Dr. Stephan Krohn, MSc
Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer
Dr. Stephan Krohn, MSc
Temporal complexity of resting-state signals: capturing the dynamics of spontaneous brain activity
| Doctoral project | Temporal complexity of resting-state signals: capturing the dynamics of spontaneous brain activity |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD project, I investigate the temporal dynamics of resting-state brain signals in patients with autoimmune disease and in pharmacologically induced models. My current focus is thalamo-cortical functional connectivity in MS. I will next systematically compare several methods of assessing brain signal complexity and later apply this method in two groups: patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and healthy persons during ketamine infusion. Although these groups have divergent etiologies, they display common cognitive symptoms and share a neurobiological target: the NMDA receptor. If convergent alterations in network dynamics are found, this study will provide insight into the relationship between brain dynamics and cognitive symptoms related to glutamatergic system dysfunction. |
| Funding | Mind & Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Philipp Sterzer Dr. Stephan Krohn, MSc |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 4: Brain plasticity and lifespan ontogeny Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Neurology |
| Cohort | 2020 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| amy.romanello-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Hellmuth Obrig
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Semantic context effects in healthy and language impaired participants
| Doctoral project | Semantic context effects in healthy and language impaired participants |
|---|---|
| Description | Semantic relations between objects can influence how easily an object’s name is retrieved in language production. Categorical relations usually inhibit, whereas associative relations facilitate object naming. In my thesis I investigate these effects in detail using eye tracking and reaction time measures in healthy participants and people with language impairments. Individuals with aphasia following stroke or progressive aphasia due to dementia show particular difficulties in naming certain items. I aim to show how the processing of semantic relations between these items (as seen in eye movements) correlates with the speed and success of naming them in inhibitory or facilitative conditions. These behavioural insights can improve diagnosis and treatment strategies for these impairments. |
| Funding | Mind and Brain scholarship |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Hellmuth Obrig Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Day Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, Leipzig; MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig; Berlin School of Mind and Brain |
| Cohort | 2017 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cornelia_Van_Scherpenberg |
Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner
Dynamic functional connectivity in patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis
| Doctoral project | Dynamic functional connectivity in patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis |
|---|---|
| Description | My project aims to investigate temporal dynamics of functional connectivity in patients with autoimmune encephalitis. Two main hypotheses will be tested (a) do patients show symptomatic patterns of dynamic functional connectivity that distinguishes them from healthy controls? and (b) do these alterations account for the patients’ compromising long-standing memory deficits? |
| Funding | Cusanuswerk |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke Prof. Dr. Christoph Ploner |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Neurology Department, Charité -- Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| nina.schwanenflug-please remove this text-@charite.de |
Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmidt
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter
Emotions as a source of moral knowledge
| Doctoral project | Emotions as a source of moral knowledge |
|---|---|
| Description | Recent empirical research in moral psychology has underscored the importance of emotions in determining either all or some class of our moral judgments. This can be taken to justify skepticism with regards to the truth of such judgments. My project aims to explore the empirical underpinnings of moral emotions with the goal of ascertaining whether they can function as legitimate evidence for moral judgment and belief. Taking my cue from research in the model-based learning mechanisms involved in generating and refining emotional reactions, I will investigate whether moral emotions are also the upshot of such learning, and whether this can be a way of vindicating emotions as a source of moral knowledge. |
| Funding | Elsa Neumann Stipendium des Landes Berlin |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmidt Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Philosophy, HU Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| sofronir-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Academia.edu | https://hu-berlin.academia.edu/RazvanSofroni |
Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman
Prof. Martin Fischer, Ph.D.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Kaup
Prof. Martin Fischer, Ph.D.
Prof. Dr. Barbara Kaup
Embodiment and speech production
| Doctoral project | Embodiment and speech production |
|---|---|
| Description | In my PhD-project I want to investigate if previously established effects of sensorimotor simulations on language comprehension can be extended to speech production. Behavioural as well as electrophysiological measures shall be used to investigate this issue. First, I want to see if stimuli sharing experimental dimensions with a presented picture influence the accessability of the picture’s name measured by means of naming latencies. Based on these results, I want to explore the temporal characteristics of these effects by measuring participants´ EEGs during speech production. Thereby, I want to extend the database for the role of sensorimotor processes during speech production and include embodiment and the role of sensorimotor simulations into current models of speech production. |
| Funding | Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Rasha Abdel Rahman Prof. Martin Fischer, Ph.D. Prof. Dr. Barbara Kaup |
| M&B topics | Topic 1: Perception, attention, consciousness Topic 3: Language |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of psychology, Neurocognitive psychology |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| anne.vogt.1-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de |
Prof. Dr. Elke van der Meer
Prof. Dr. Fabian Klostermann
Prof. Dr. Fabian Klostermann
Event segmentation and temporal event sequencing of patients with Parkinson’s disease
| Doctoral project | Event segmentation and temporal event sequencing of patients with Parkinson’s disease |
|---|---|
| Description | The aim of the project is the better understanding of the cognitive impairments and the underlying neural mechanisms in patients with Parkinson’s disease regarding event segmentation and temporal event sequencing. Both processes are highly important for remembering and executing daily activities and thus, for the patients quality of life. The project includes behavioural tasks, e.g. the event segmentation task where participants segment movies into meaningful events. Furthermore, the project includes a neurophysiological measurement (ERP) where participants identify contentual or temporal errors in event sequences (event triplet task). The long-term objective of the project is the development of specific rehabilitative training programs that aim to improve the daily competence of the patients. |
| Funding | Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studienwerk (ELES) |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Elke van der Meer Prof. Dr. Fabian Klostermann |
| M&B topics | Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Psychology / Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Department of Neurology |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| michelle.wyrobnik-please remove this text-@hu-berlin.de | |
| Homepage | https://www.psychologie.hu-berlin.de/de/personal/91680356 |
| Researchgate | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Wyrobnik |
Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes
How does effort investment influence subjective value?
| Doctoral project | How does effort investment influence subjective value? |
|---|---|
| Description | Effort investment is critical for optimal decision-making and is typically regarded as a type of cost. However, an item may become more rewarding when more effort is invested for it, suggesting that the effort investment could also be valuable. In my project, I will systematically examine the role of effort investment in valuation and the underlying neural mechanisms, using a combination of behavioural experiment, fMRI, and computational modelling. |
| Funding | Einstein Center for Neurosciences |
| Supervisors | Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes |
| M&B topics | Topic 2: Decision-making Topic 6: Social cognition / human sociality and the brain |
| Degrees obtained | |
| Institute | Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin |
| Cohort | 2018 |
| Status | Doctoral candidate |
| yywyao-please remove this text-@gmail.com |
