Research

In our daily life, the integration of different sensory modalities seems to be effortless and automatic. However, our brain must integrate the information from the individual sensory systems into a coherent "object" or segregate it into several "objects". In various projects, we identify the cognitive mechanisms and neural underpinnings which govern multisensory integration, learning and prediction formation using fMRI, EEG/MEG, TMS and  cognitive modelling. 

Studying the past is often noted as the best way to predict the future. We established a cross-species paradigm, combined with advanced neuroimaging techniques in humans and mice, to identify key neural resources that support temporal expectations and allow for patterns to be extracted from the sensory environment in order to optimize ongoing behaviour. In the second funding period, we will examine how different domains of temporal attention facilitate motor responses and memory recall across ageing (WP1), how the manipulation of time-related cellular engrams can alter adaptive behaviour (WP2) and how learning dynamics during temporal processing may act as a cognitive reserve mechanism across ageing (WP3). Results will provide vital insight towards specific training and stimulation strategies related to the effective use of temporal attention.

Involved in project: Linda Sempf; Funded by DFG-SFB 1436

Involved in project: Peter Vavra; see nature.com/articles/s41539-022-00150-x

How do we experience the consequences of our actions?

Performing simple everyday actions, such as pressing a piano key to produce a tone, has been found to lead to a subjective temporal attraction between an action and its outcome, known as temporal binding. Yet, despite the fundamental role of actions in how we navigate the world, we still know surprisingly little about how our brain binds our effects to our actions, especially when those effects come from different senses (i.e., vision/hearing) or when they are faint, noisy, or unreliable. To address this gap, we will combine behavioral tasks with electrophysiological recordings to investigate how people judge the timing of self-generated effects compared to external ones. We will also examine how these judgments change as sensory information becomes less reliable across various effect modalities. Together, this research will advance our understanding of the core mechanisms underlying action-effect integration, revealing how our brain constructs a unified experience of acting in and shaping the world.

Involved in project: Lazari Evgenia; Funded by DAAD Research Grants, 2025

In this subproject, we investigate cognitive and neural mechanisms when  audiovisual and audiotactile events are perceived as synchronous or not. To this end, we use behavioral experiments, electrophysiological procedures (EEG / MEG) and fMRI. The main goal is to identify temporal dynamics and the neuroanatomic correlations that underlie multisensory integration. Furthermore, we focus on the interplay between audiovisual / audiotactile integration and top-down processes, as well as the similarities and differences of audiovisual and audiotactile integration.

Involved in project: Felix Ball und Johanna Starke; Funded by DFG-SFB TR31

When and where is an object going to reappear? Predicting trajectories and positions of dynamically occluded object is a core cognitive ability. However it is still unknown what strategies can be used in such context and what neural correlates are involved in this process. In our lab, we investigate how the prediction of trajectories of occluded moving stimuli affects fMRI-responses focusing on low-level visual areas.

Involved in project: Camila S. Agostino; Funded by ESF-ABINEP

An important objective for the study of ingestive behaviour should be the understanding of the fundamentals of the underlying senses. This project investigates the perception and neural representation of primary rewards/reinforcers, i.e. tastes, of their visual correspondences, i.e. secondary reinforcers, and of their (mis)matched combination in the human brain. The aim of this project is threefold: (1) to identify in humans the motivational, hedonic and category-specific neural representations of primary reinforcers (sweet, sour etc.), (2) to identify the influence of secondary reinforcers (i.e. predictors of primary reinforcers)  on motivational, hedonic and category-specific primary reinforcer representations and (3) to identify the effects of overlearned and novel visuogustatory correspondences on these representations and their functional interplay.

Involved in project: Emanuele Porcu; Funded by the DFG SFB 779-TPA08

In this project, we investigate the integration of auditory and visual information using three-dimensional and thus naturalistic experimental settings. We are particularly interested in the prediction of moving objects when part of the information is unavailable (e.g. by visual masking, auditory masking). In addition to behavioral experiments, the temporal dynamics as well as the neural correlates of these functions are investigated using EEG and fMRI.

Involved in project: Sandra Dittrich

Hunger and appetitive behaviour play a central role in daily food intake. Also, with respect to the high prevalence of obesity and eating disorders, it is important to learn more about the basics of the regulation of food intake. In our lab we examine which brain regions play a part in perception and processing of visual food cues. Moreover, we aim at finding out how visual and gustatory stimuli are integrated.

Involved in project: Tanja Pohl

The aim of this project is to extent existing brain research methods so they can be used easily (and as a matter of routine) in clinical research and diagnostics. Here we focus on a combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional resonance tomography (fMRI). Unfortunately, the fMRI gradient strongly alters the EEG signal, so that large artificats have to be corrected before evaluation of the EEG signal is possible. In addition, head-movements and helium pumps of the scanner further alter the EEG signal. All these artifacts cannot be easily corrected and current artifact correction methods are insufficient. Thus, a clear interpretation of the EEG signals is often impossible. THis project aims at providing a new method to reject artifacts in EEG-fMRI measures and to make combined neuroimaging measures more user friendly.

Involved in project: Felix BallThe project was financed by the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the European Fond for Regional Development (EFRE 2014-2020) in the framework of the Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences – CBBS (project funding reference number: ZS/2016/04/78113).