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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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    Upcoming Events

    Full event calender

    19
    Jan

    <i>Biology:</i><br>Jorg J. M. Massen (Utrecht)<br><b>Interdependency as a driver for the evolution of cooperation in primates and birds</b>

    January 19
    1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
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    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>Khazar Ahmadi (RUB)<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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    Relevant Publications

    For full list of selected publications, see the publications page

    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

    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)

    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

    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...

    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

    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

    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)

    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

    Neural dynamic foundations of a theory of higher cognition: The case of grounding nested phrases.

    Schöner & Sabinasz, 2023 Sabinasz, D., Richter, M., & Schöner, G. (2023). Neural dynamic foundations of a theory of higher cognition: The case of grounding nested phrases. Cognitive Neurodynamics.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-023-10007-7

    Happy together? On the relationship between research on retrieval practice and generative learning using the case of follow-up learning tasks

    Roelle, 2023 Roelle, J., Endres, T., Abel, R., Obergassel, N., Nückles, M., & Renkl, A. (2023). Happy together? On the relationship between research on retrieval practice and generative learning using the case of follow-up learning tasks. Educational Psychology...

    Minds, Brains, and Deep Learning: The Development of Cognitive Science Through the Lens of Kant’s Approach to Cognition

    Schlicht, 2022 Schlicht, T. (2022). 1 Minds, Brains, and Deep Learning: The Development of Cognitive Science Through the Lens of Kant’s Approach to Cognition. Kant and Artificial Intelligence.

    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

    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.

    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

    Evolutionary Inquiries Into the Origin and Nature of Mental Disorders

    Brüne, 2023 Brüne M. (2023). Evolutionary Inquiries Into the Origin and Nature of Mental Disorders. JAMA psychiatry, 80(6), 537–538. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.0662

    The Oxford Handbook of 4e cognition

    Newen, 2018 Newen, A., Bruin, L. d., & Gallagher, S. (Eds.). (2018). The Oxford handbook of 4E cognition (First edition). Oxford, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Cardiac parasympathetic activity in female patients with borderline personality disorder predicts approach/avoidance behavior towards angry faces

    Brüne, 2021 Maiß, C., Engemann, L., Kern, K., Flasbeck, V., Mügge, A., Lücke, T., & Brüne, M. (2021). Cardiac parasympathetic activity in female patients with borderline personality disorder predicts approach/avoidance behavior towards angry faces. Biological...

    Inside Document Models: Role of Source Attributes in Readers’ Integration of Multiple Text Contents.

    Stadtler, 2021 Rouet, J.-F., Saux, G., Ros, C., Stadtler, M., Vibert, N., & Britt, M. A. (2021). Inside Document Models: Role of Source Attributes in Readers’ Integration of Multiple Text Contents. Discourse Processes, 58(1), 60–79....

    How does an emotional culture of joy cultivate team resilience? A sociocognitive perspective

    Weiss, 2021 Hartmann, S., Weiss, M., Hoegl, M., & Carmeli, A. (2021). How does an emotional culture of joy cultivate team resilience? A sociocognitive perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(3), 313–331. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2496

    A map of spatial navigation for neuroscience

    Wiskott, 2023 Parra-Barrero, E., Vijayabaskaran, S., Seabrook, E., Wiskott, L., & Cheng, S. (2023). A map of spatial navigation for neuroscience. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 152, 105200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105200

    Neural dynamic foundations of a theory of higher cognition: The case of grounding nested phrases.

    Schöner & Sabinasz, 2023 Sabinasz, D., Richter, M., & Schöner, G. (2023). Neural dynamic foundations of a theory of higher cognition: The case of grounding nested phrases. Cognitive Neurodynamics.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11571-023-10007-7

    Evolutionary Inquiries Into the Origin and Nature of Mental Disorders

    Brüne, 2023 Brüne M. (2023). Evolutionary Inquiries Into the Origin and Nature of Mental Disorders. JAMA psychiatry, 80(6), 537–538. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.0662

    The role of spontaneous recovery effects in the context of German orthography instruction methods with delayed correction.

    Rummel, 2021 Erdmann, J., & Rummel, N. (2021). The role of spontaneous recovery effects in the context of German orthography instruction methods with delayed correction. Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000377

    The value of mere completion

    Hennecke, 2023 Converse, B. A., Tsang, S., & Hennecke, M. (2023). The value of mere completion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(11), 3021–3036. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001434

    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