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CfA: RUB-LSE Workshop on Animal Minds

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Call for abstracts: Ruhr-University Bochum & London School of Economics joint workshop “Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations”, 9th-10th of February 2026 in Bochum, abstract deadline: 01.12.2025

The interdisciplinary workshop “Animal Minds: New Theories and New Observations”, jointly organized by Ruhr-University Bochum and The London School of Economics, will take place on the 9th & 10th of February 2026 at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.

The workshop will combine discussions of new theoretical and methodological approaches with presentations of novel empirical findings about animal minds.

The following speakers are confirmed: Colin Allen, Kristin Andrews, Jonathan Birch, Thomas Bugnyar, Tomer Czaczkes, Rebecca Dreier, Leonard Dung, Albert Newen, Simone Pika, Sanja Sreckovic, and Daria Zakharova.

We are inviting contributions from philosophy, psychology, ethology, neuroscience, biology, and other relevant disciplines. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

  • What do we know about capacities such as reasoning, sentience, or social understanding in other species?

 

  • How do the cognitive and affective capacities of different species compare and contrast with each other and with human capacities?

 

  • What is the evolutionary origin of important human psychological features?

 

  • What are promising methodological frameworks and experimental paradigms for investigating animal minds?

 

  • Which theories about animal minds are supported by recent empirical findings?

 

  • What are the promises and limitations of multidimensional profile and signature testing accounts in comparative psychology?

 

To be considered for a talk (30 minutes + 15 minutes discussion) or poster presentation, please send an abstract of your proposed presentation of up to 500 words (excluding references) to: hilfskraefte-newen@rub.de. The abstract should be anonymous, allowing blinded review, and accompanied by a second Word or PDF file containing author name(s), affiliation(s), and contact details. The deadline for abstract submissions is the 1st of December 2025. We plan to notify everyone about whether their abstract is accepted within two weeks after the deadline.

    This joint event is organized by the following team:

    Ruhr-University Bochum:  Sanja Sreckovic, Leonard Dung, & Albert Newen

    London School of Economics: Jonathan Birch
    Please direct any questions to: leonard.dung@rub.de

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    Workshop: Panpsychism, Non-Physicalism, & the Causal Power of Consciousness

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    Upcoming Events

    Full event calender

    22
    Jan

    <i>Anthropology:</i><br>Tania Casimiro (Stirling)<br><b>Archaeologies of social forgetting: Material memory, care, and urban precarity</b>

    January 22
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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    22
    Jan

    <i>Linguistics:</i><br>Nadina Bade (Konstanz)<br><b>Inhibition Effects in Implicature Derivation: Evidence from Negative Priming</b>

    January 22
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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    22
    Jan

    <i>Neuropsychology:</i><br>Lydia Brundisch (MIP Berlin)<br><b>Title TBA</b>

    January 22
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
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    23
    Jan

    <i>Psychopathology:</i> <br>Tom Beckers (KU Leuven)<br><b>Reminder-dependent amnesia: Suppression and recovery</b>

    January 23
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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    26
    Jan

    <i><b>Zoom Only:</b>Comp. Psychology:</i><br>Fumihiro Kano (MPI Konstanz)<br><b>Decoding Social Cognition via Gaze in Human and Nonhuman Animals: From Individual to Collective Levels</b>

    January 26
    1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
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    27
    Jan

    <i>Philosophy:</i><br>Peter Gärdenfors (Lund)<br><b>Reasoning with Concepts</br></b>

    January 27
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
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    Relevant Publications

    For full list of selected publications, see the publications page

    Foundation Models – A New Paradigm for Artificial Intelligence

    Meske, 2024 Schneider, J., Meske, C. and Kuss, P. (2024). Foundation Models – A New Paradigm for Artificial Intelligence. Business & Information Systems Engineering 66, 221–231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12599-024-00851-0

    When is learning “effortful”? Scrutinizing the concept of mental effort in cognitively-oriented research from a motivational perspective

    Roelle, 2024 Grund, A., Fries, S., Nückles, M., Renkl, A., & Roelle, J. (2024). When is learning “effortful”? Scrutinizing the concept of mental effort in cognitively-oriented research from a motivational perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 36, Article...

    Out of touch? How trauma shapes the experience of social touch – neural and endocrine pathways

    Scheele, 2024 Stevens L., Bregulla M., Scheele D. (2024). Out of touch? How trauma shapes the experience of social touch – neural and endocrine pathways. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (in press)

    Deceptive XAI: Typology, Creation and Detection

    Meske, 2024 Schneider, J., Meske, C. & Vlachos, M. (2024). Deceptive XAI: Typology, Creation and Detection. SN Computer Science 5, 81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-023-02401-z

    Prediction error processing and sharpening of expected information across the face-processing hierarchy

    Blank, 2024 Garlichs, A. & Blank, H. (2024). Prediction error processing and sharpening of expected information across the face-processing hierarchy. Nature Communications, 15, 3407.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47749-9

    Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability

    Blank, 2024 Ufer, C. & Blank, H. (2024) Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability. iScience:110611.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110611

    The stabilization of visibility for sequentially presented, low-contrast objects: Experiments and neural field model.

    Schöner, 2023 Hock, H. S., & Schöner, G. (2023). The stabilization of visibility for sequentially presented, low-contrast objects: Experiments and neural field model. Journal of Vision, 23(8), 12.https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.8.12

    Factivity variation in episodic memory reports

    Liefke & Werning, 2022 Liefke, K., & Werning, M. (in press). Factivity variation in episodic memory reports. In Y. Katsutoshi, T. Yasufumi, & K. Mineshima (Eds.), New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Heidelberg:...

    Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution.

    Newen, 2023 Dung, L., & Newen, A. (2023). Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution. Cognition, 235, 105409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105409

    Special Issue: Predictive Processing and Consciousness

    Schlicht, 2022 Miller, Mark, Andy Clark, und Tobias Schlicht (eds.). „Special Issue: Predictive Processing and Consciousness“. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 13, Nr. 4 (1. Dezember 2022).

    Metacognition and self-control: An integrative framework. Psychological Review

    Hennecke, 2023 Hennecke, M., & Bürgler, S.(2023). Metacognition and self-control: An integrative framework. Psychological Review, 130(5), 1262-1268. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000406

    Altered Left Ventricular Myocardial Deformation in Young Women With Borderline Personality Disorder: An Echocardiographic Study

    Brüne, 2022 Engemann, L., Aweimer, A., Ewers, A., Afshari, F., Maiß, C., Kern, K., … & Brüne, M. (2022). Altered Left Ventricular Myocardial Deformation in Young Women With Borderline Personality Disorder: An Echocardiographic Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 84(5),...

    Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability

    Blank, 2024 Ufer, C. & Blank, H. (2024) Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability. iScience:110611.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110611

    Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution

    Newen, 2023 Dung, L., & Newen, A. (2023). Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution. Cognition, 235, 105409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105409

    Optogenetics reveals paradoxical network stabilizations in hippocampal CA1 and CA3

    Cheng, 2023 de Jong, L. W., Nejad, M. M., Yoon, E., Cheng, S., & Diba, K. (2023). Optogenetics reveals paradoxical network stabilizations in hippocampal CA1 and CA3. Current Biology. 33(9), 1689-1703.

    Exploring accidental triggers of smart speakers

    Kolossa, 2022 Schönherr, L., Golla, M., Eisenhofer, T., Wiele, J., Kolossa, D., & Holz, T. (2022). Exploring accidental triggers of smart speakers. Computer Speech & Language, 73, 101328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csl.2021.101328

    The interaction between semantic representation and episodic memory

    Wiskott, 2018 Fang, J., Rüther, N., Bellebaum, C., Wiskott, L., & Cheng, S. (2018). The Interaction between Semantic Representation and Episodic Memory. Neural Computation, 30(2), 293–332. https://doi.org/10.1162/neco_a_01044

    Designing for the co-Orchestration of Social Transitions between Individual, Small-Group and Whole-Class Learning in the Classroom.

    Rummel, 2021 Olsen, J. K., Rummel, N., & Aleven, V. (2021). Designing for the co-Orchestration of Social Transitions between Individual, Small-Group and Whole-Class Learning in the Classroom. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 31(1),...

    Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability

    Blank, 2024 Ufer, C. & Blank, H. (2024) Opposing serial effects of stimulus and choice in speech perception scale with context variability. iScience:110611.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110611

    Consequences of exposure to the thin ideal in mass media depend on moderators in young women: An experimental study.

    Schneider, 2021 Munsch, S., Messerli-Bürgy, N., Meyer, A. H., Humbel, N., Schopf, K., Wyssen, A., Forrer, F., Biedert, E., Lennertz, J., Trier, S., Isenschmid, B., Milos, G., Claussen, M., Whinyates, K., Adolph, D., Margraf, J., Assion, H.-J., Teismann, T., Ueberberg,...

    Stress-Mediated Abnormalities in Regional Myocardial Wall Motion in Young Women with a History of Psychological Trauma

    Brüne, 2023 Aweimer, A., Engemann, L., Amar, S., Ewers, A., Afshari, F., Maiß, C., Kern, K., Lücke, T., Mügge, A., El-Battrawy, I., Dietrich, J. W., & Brüne, M. (2023). Stress-Mediated Abnormalities in Regional Myocardial Wall Motion in Young Women with a History...

    Association between childhood maltreatment, psychopathology and DNA methylation of genes involved in stress regulation: Evidence from a study in Borderline Personality Disorder

    Brüne, 2021 Flasbeck, V., & Brüne, M. (2021). Association between childhood maltreatment, psychopathology and DNA methylation of genes involved in stress regulation: Evidence from a study in Borderline Personality Disorder. PLOS ONE, 16(3), e0248514....

    Visual and Tactile Sensory Systems Share Common Features in Object Recognition.

    Tegenthoff, 2021 Tabrik, S., Behroozi, M., Schlaffke, L., Heba, S., Lenz, M., Lissek, S., Güntürkün, O., Dinse, H. R., & Tegenthoff, M. (2021). Visual and Tactile Sensory Systems Share Common Features in Object Recognition. eNeuro, 8(5), ENEURO.0101-21.2021....

    Fictional emotions and emotional reactions to social robots as depictions of social agents

    Weber-Guskar, 2023 Blatter, J., & Weber-Guskar, E. (2023). Fictional emotions and emotional reactions to social robots as depictions of social agents. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22001716

    Rethinking Integration of Epistemic Strategies in Social Understanding: Examining the Central Role of Mindreading in Pluralist Accounts

    Newen, 2021 Wolf, J., Coninx, S., & Newen, A. (2021). Rethinking Integration of Epistemic Strategies in Social Understanding: Examining the Central Role of Mindreading in Pluralist Accounts. Erkenntnis. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00486-7

    Reflecting (on) Replica. Can We Have a Good Affective Relationship with a Social Chatbot?

    Weber-Guskar, 2022 Weber-Guskar, E. (2022). Reflecting (on) Replica. Can We Have a Good Affective Relationship with a Social Chatbot? In: Social Robotics and the Good Life: The Normative Side of Forming Emotional Bonds With Robots. (2022). transcript Verlag....