Doctoral candidates 

Doctoral candidates and fast-track students

Search Students

Name
Supervisor
Doctoral project

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Sensory processing and its relationship to higher order cognitive processes in autism
Doctoral project Sensory processing and its relationship to higher order cognitive processes in autism
Research area
Description

I aim to investigate if reading others’ and own mental states is a common process in neurotypically developed individuals and in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Research suggests that there are shared neural activations and mental processes for mentalizing about others and the self in neurotypicals. Regarding the case of autism, it is known that inferring others’ mental states is altered, and first evidence shows that access to own mental states might be hampered, too. The study of autism may thus shed further light on the question if mindreading in self and others is one common process or two distinct processes.

Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

M&B topics Topic 5: Brain disorders and mental dysfunction
Topic 6: Extrospective assessment of emotion in self and other and their neural correlates
Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Cohort 2018
Status Doctoral candidate
Email katharina.boegl@hu-berlin.de

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Is feeling Believing? Insights on Introspection, Illusion, Delusion and the Relationship between Experience and Belief
Doctoral project Is feeling Believing? Insights on Introspection, Illusion, Delusion and the Relationship between Experience and Belief
Research area
Description

My dissertation focuses on pathological failures of introspection, namely, introspective delusions. Can someone have pathologically false beliefs about their own experience? To tackle this question, I want to look at the cognitive processes underlying introspection, self-knowledge, regular and delusional belief formation.

Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

M&B topics Topic 4: Introspection, extrospection and denial of privileged access in psychiatry
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Cohort 2019
Status Doctoral candidate
Email caporusciochiara1@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Fast-track student 2018/19
Doctoral project Fast-track student 2018/19
Research area
Description
Funding Scholarship RTG 2386
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

M&B topics
Cohort 2018
Status Fast-Track student 2018/19

Dr. Laura Kaltwasser

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Extrospective assessment of emotion in self and other and their neural correlates
Doctoral project Extrospective assessment of emotion in self and other and their neural correlates
Research area
Description The “Extrospective assessment of emotion” project investigates the neural correlates of inferring emotions in others. Socioaffective cues are manipulated to simulate self-reference and emotional labeling of congruent versus incongruent affective facial expressions and body cues during simultaneous EEG-fMRI. Emotion prediction and discernment should be represented as a series of spatiotemporal neural processes dependent on self-reference and coherence of affective cues.
Funding Salaried research position, RTG 2386 "Extrospection"
Supervisors

Dr. Laura Kaltwasser

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

M&B topics Topic 6: Extrospective assessment of emotion in self and other and their neural correlates
Cohort 2020
Status Doctoral candidate
Email dustin.clark@hu-berlin.de

Elisa Filevich, PhD

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Introspective Reports in Confidence Paradigms: Examining the Role of Priors
Doctoral project Introspective Reports in Confidence Paradigms: Examining the Role of Priors
Research area
Description
Funding Salaried research position, RTG 2386 "Extrospection"
Supervisors

Elisa Filevich, PhD

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

M&B topics Topic 7: Extrospection and confidence judgements in metacognitive tasks
Cohort 2020
Status Doctoral candidate

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Prof. Dr. Anne Beck

Prof. Dr. Peter N.C. Mohr

Insight from outside? Comparing extrospective and introspective measures in anhedonia
Doctoral project Insight from outside? Comparing extrospective and introspective measures in anhedonia
Research area
Description Seeking out rewards and experiencing pleasure are central to natural human function. However, these processes are disrupted in anhedonia, i.e. the loss of interest or pleasure in activities usually enjoyed. Even though anhedonia is a core symptom of major psychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, its exact neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. On a similar vein, often only weak empirical correlations are found between the subjective experience of anhedonia and corresponding brain activation. We aim to bridge this gap by systematically applying extrospective (fMRI, behavioral assessment) and introspective methods (ecological momentary assessment) to the subcomponents of anhedonia – i.e. wanting, liking, effort, and learning – in healthy participants.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Prof. Dr. Anne Beck

Prof. Dr. Peter N.C. Mohr

M&B topics Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 4: Introspection, extrospection and denial of privileged access in psychiatry
Cohort 2018
Status Doctoral candidate
Email anna.daniels@charite.de
Researchgate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna_Daniels3

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Mind Reading and Body Reading; the relationship between interoception, bodily self and everyday extrospection
Doctoral project Mind Reading and Body Reading; the relationship between interoception, bodily self and everyday extrospection
Research area
Description Optimal social interaction requires a stable self-other boundary whereby emotions and mental states are quickly and accurately attributed to oneself or others. It has been proposed that one’s sense of bodily self is the result of the multisensory integration of information from outside (exteroception) and inside the body (interoception). My project focuses on the latter component of bodily self and how changes/impairments in interoception can potentially explain changes in everyday extrospection via their role in self-other distinction.
Funding Salaried research position, RTG 2386 "Extrospection"
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

M&B topics Topic 5: Reading mental states of others versus self - the case of autism
Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Topic 3: Structural models of phenomenality
Cohort 2020
Status Doctoral candidate
Email mahlet.kassa@hu-berlin.de
Researchgate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mahlet_Kassa

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

How Does the Psychiatrist Know?
Doctoral project How Does the Psychiatrist Know?
Research area
Description

In my project, I argue that the current praxis of clinical psychiatric reasoning is a kind of model-based reasoning, enabling mental health professionals to extrospect patients' mental states.

Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

M&B topics Topic 4: Introspection, extrospection and denial of privileged access in psychiatry
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Cohort 2019
Status Doctoral candidate
Email adrian.kind@mailbox.org

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Fast-track student 2019/20
Doctoral project Fast-track student 2019/20
Research area
Description
Funding Scholarship RTG 2386
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

M&B topics
Cohort 2019
Status Fast-track student 2019/20

Prof. Dr. Holger Lyre

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Structural Models of Phenomenality
Doctoral project Structural Models of Phenomenality
Research area
Description The core of my project is the thesis that phenomenal spaces are structurally similar to neural spaces. A phenomenal space is a geometric description of similarity relations between experiential contents. Analogously, a neural space can be constructed from the similarity relations between neural patterns. Phenomenal and neuronal states can be individuated by their coordinates in their respective spaces. This allows a mapping between phenomenal and neuronal states. Such a linkage of phenomenal and neuronal spaces is part of a fruitful research program in contemporary neuroscience, namely the representational geometry approach. Based on this methodology, structural descriptions have found their way into major theories of consciousness. I examine the benefits and limitations of structuralism in consciousness science and relate structuralism to major topics in philosophy of mind.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Holger Lyre

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

M&B topics Topic 3: Structural models of phenomenality
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 8: Brain Reading and extrospection
Cohort 2019
Status Doctoral candidate
Email lukas.kob@ovgu.de

Prof. Dr. Dominik Perler

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

Descartes and Leibniz on Other Minds
Doctoral project Descartes and Leibniz on Other Minds
Research area
Description Our intuitions about intro- and extrospection – external access to higher cognitive processes – are strongly shaped by concepts formed in the early modern period. In particular, the introspective privilege is commonly attributed to Descartes (1596-1650), while some of his contemporaries, specifically Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), offer views on knowledge and consciousness that rely less on inner observation. This project focuses on a specific form of extrospection which, in philosophy, has traditionally been known as the problem of other minds and provides a conceptual basis for an understanding of the psychological concept of empathy. It will compare the views of Leibniz and Descartes on this problem and analyze the interplay between intro- and extrospection.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Dominik Perler

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

M&B topics Topic 2: Extrospection and consciousness in early modern philosoph
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Cohort 2019
Status Doctoral candidate
Email lena.maria.kreymann@hu-berlin.de

Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer

Fast-track student 2019/20
Doctoral project Fast-track student 2019/20
Research area
Description
Funding Scholarship RTG 2386
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer

M&B topics
Cohort 2019
Status Fast-track student 2019/20

Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer

Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke

Dr. Vadim Nikulin

Discrepancies between different contents of introspection Somatosensory Perception in Patients after Stroke
Doctoral project Discrepancies between different contents of introspection Somatosensory Perception in Patients after Stroke
Research area
Description The project investigates what are the neural underpinnings of apparent discrepancies of introspection in the somatosensory domain. An experiment is designed that combines psychophysics, EEG as well as voxel-based symptom lesion mapping to relate lesion sites to introspective discrepancies as well as to identify EEG markers of different types of (successful) introspection.
Funding Salaried research position, RTG 2386 "Extrospection"
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer

Prof. Dr. Carsten Finke

Dr. Vadim Nikulin

M&B topics Topic 9: Numbtouch: Extrospection and introspection during weak somatosensory stimulation
Cohort 2020
Status Doctoral candidate

Prof. Dr. Holger Lyre

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Underdetermination in Consciousness Science
Doctoral project Underdetermination in Consciousness Science
Research area
Description In a recent paper Matthias Michel maps out a fundamental threat for consciousness science in the form of a permanent underdetermination by evidence. Having analyzed the past 150 years of theorizing about consciousness he comes to the conclusion that „no hypothesis is held sacred in consciousness science“. This overly pessimistic picture is in stark contrast with the recent successes of the most impactful research program in consciousness science, the “NCC-program” initiated by Crick and Koch in the 90s. The aim of my thesis is to find out if there really is an underdetermination problem in consciousness science and if it ultimately prevents the NCC-program from succeeding. The two main factors feeding into this fear are a lack of consensus on how to measure consciousness and a resistant pessimism against the justificatory role of reports. In my thesis I introduce underdetermination by evidence as a general feature of science and investigate if and how the above factors render it permanent in consciousness science. It is only at this point where underdetermination becomes problematic. After that I assess if we can evade its permanency by means of theory-neutral criteria and arguments for a specific measurement or for the reliability of reports. However, if there are no theory-neutral grounds to take off from I aim to give a plausible argument for the permanency of underdetermination in consciousness science. Finally, I evaluate the consequences of the respective outcome of my analysis and elaborate how consciousness science can cope.
Funding Salaried research position, RTG 2386 "Extrospection"
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Holger Lyre

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

M&B topics Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 3: Structural models of phenomenality
Topic 8: Brain Reading and extrospection
Cohort 2020
Status Doctoral candidate
Email marlo.passler@hu-berlin.de

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

Representation of feature-continuous orientation in high and low visual imagery vividness
Doctoral project Representation of feature-continuous orientation in high and low visual imagery vividness
Research area
Description Visual Mental Imagery (VMI), the ability to generate depictive mental representations of visual content in the absence of external visual stimulation, has been proposed as a possible cognitive strategy to remember visual stimuli in a Visual Working Memory (VWM) context (Kosslyn et al., 2001; Keogh & Pearson, 2011, 2014). However, the ability to generate VMI varies substantially across individuals (Cui et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2012; Dijkstra et al., 2017), leading to the assumption that individuals with low VMI vividness might not rely on their visual stores (Cocchini et al., 2002) but instead use alternative, non-visual cognitive strategies to solve VWM tasks (Pearson & Keogh, 2019). According to this view, the cognitive strategy used to solve a VWM task would determine the format in which a stimulus is represented in the brain, and consequently influence how much information about the stimulus is present in a given sensory store. In my PhD project, I systematically investigate the influence of VMI vividness on the strength of mnemonic representations in the visual store during VWM, using fMRI. If successful, this project will get us closer to a detailed understanding of individual differences in mental representations, and which brain regions are involved in their respective realizations. Only by knowing how precisely a given mental content is represented within an individual brain, we can refine our methods to infer and predict these contents from a third-person perspective. Therefore, by highlighting the role of individual differences in the maintenance of stimulus representations, I hope to provide a valuable contribution to the advancement of Extrospection as a viable research tool.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. John-Dylan Haynes

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

M&B topics Topic 8: Brain Reading and extrospection
Cohort 2018
Status Doctoral candidate
Email sweber@bccn-berlin.de
Researchgate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Weber14

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Affective neuroscience in psychiatry: The case of anhedonia
Doctoral project Affective neuroscience in psychiatry: The case of anhedonia
Research area
Description This study will investigate the trait anhedonia in healthy subjects using various intro- and extrospective measures. Our aim is to find reliable correlations between self-report, behavioural results and fMRI data for the four components of anhedonia: anticipation, consummation, effort, and learning. We will then validate our experimental findings in everyday life through ecological momentary assessment via smartphone. Finally, we will discuss possible philosophical implications of the empirical study.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Dr. Henrik Walter

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

M&B topics Topic 10:  Levels of extrospection in psychiatry
Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 4: Introspection, extrospection and denial of privileged access in psychiatry
Cohort 2018
Status Doctoral candidate
Email sarah.wellan@charite.de

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

Epistemology of extrospection
Doctoral project Epistemology of extrospection
Research area
Description How is it empirically possible to know what a person is consciously experiencing based on measurements of their reports, behavior, or brain activity? Many philosophers and scientists have raised doubts whether and how conscious experiences can be adequately detected, identified, or predicted by scientific procedures. The variety of problems on which these doubts are based culminate in the claims of pessimists that there are neither well-validated and sufficiently reliable measures of consciousness, nor are there adequate strategies to establish such measures. In a slogan, consciousness science suffers from fundamental deficits. In my PhD thesis, I defend an optimistic stance towards the empirical measurability of consciousness. I argue that consciousness is not epistemologically special, and can in principle be measured in the same way as other natural phenomena. The main research question I discuss is how scientists are able to justify treating a particular observable property or response as a useful, valid, and reliable indication of consciousness. First, I argue that the main epistemic problem is a lack of criteria for informing, correcting, and trumping markers of consciousness by others markers. This leads to a strong epistemic dependence on pre-theoretical and introspection-based guiding rules used to justify the adequacy of specific measurements. Second, I argue that an epistemic iterative approach is suitable for developing criteria that make plausible when guiding rules can be informed, corrected, or trumped by other guiding rules. I show that for this we need to use models, standardization procedures, or theories to distinguish more reliable from less reliable guiding rules in the iterative process through mutual manipulation and adaptation. Additionally, I show that reliability qualifies as a defeasible marker to justify measures of consciousness when we consider consciousness domain-specifically.
Funding RTG doctoral position
Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen

Prof. Dr. Sascha Benjamin Fink

M&B topics Topic 1: Epistemology of extrospection
Topic 7: Extrospection and confidence judgements in metacognitive tasks
Cohort 2018
Status Doctoral candidate
Email ali.yasar@hu-berlin.de
Homepage www.aliyasar.de
Researchgate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ali_Yasar2
Academia.edu https://hu-berlin.academia.edu/AliYasar