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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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    CfP: Workshop Traces & Engrams

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    Upcoming Events

    Full event calender

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    <i>Neuroinformatics</i> <br>Renate Krause (Zurich) <br><b>Towards Linking Neural Mechanisms and Behaviour</b>

    March 20
    4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
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    23
    Mar

    IGSN Symposium: <br><b>Unveiling Insights into Glaucoma: Pathology, Cell Death Mechanisms, and Novel Therapeutic Strategies</b>

    March 23
    3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
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    14
    Apr

    <i>Psychoneuroendocrinology</i> <br>Katja Wingenfeld (Charité Berlin) <br><b>Testosterone in Borderline Personality Disorder</b>

    April 14
    4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
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    21
    Apr

    IGSN-Conference: <br><b>25 Years of Excellent Education</b>

    April 21
    10:00 am - 5:00 pm
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    28
    Apr

    <i>Psychology</i> <br>Katja Langer (RUB) <br><b>Interindividual differences in emotion regulation flexibility: the moderating role of working memory capacity and regulation performances</b>

    April 28
    4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
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    12
    May

    <i>Psychoneuroendocrinology</i> <br>Lena Pfeifer (RUB) <br><b>Cortisol, sex hormones and memory retrieval</b>

    May 12
    4:00 pm - 6:00 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

    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

    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)

    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...

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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),...

    Olfactory information encoding engages subcortical and cortical brain regions that enable sensory information processing and valence encoding

    Manahan-Vaughan, 2022 Strauch C., Angenstein F., Huong, T.H. & Manahan-Vaughan, D. (2022). Olfactory information encoding engages subcortical and cortical brain regions that enable sensory information processing and valence encoding. Cerebral Cortex 30(2)....

    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

    Dynamical Systems Approaches to Cognition

    Schöner, 2022 Schöner, G. (in press). Dynamical Systems Approaches to Cognition. In Sun, R (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Computational Psychology. 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press.

    Constructing a wider view on memory – Beyond the dichotomy of field and observer perspectives

    Peters, Cosentino & Werning, 2022 Peeters, A., Cosentino, E., & Werning, M. (2022). Constructing a wider view on memory – Beyond the dichotomy of field and observer perspectives. In A. Berninger & Í. V. Ferran (eds.), Memory and Imagination (pp. 165–190)....

    Verlangsamung und Stillstand: Über eine Störung des Zeitbewusstseins und ihre ethische Relevanz

    Weber-Guskar, 2023 Weber-Guskar, E. (2023). Verlangsamung und Stillstand: Über eine Störung des Zeitbewusstseins und ihre ethische Relevanz. Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.22613/zfpp/10.1.9

    The Cost of the Epistemic Step: Investigating Scalar Implicatures in Full and Partial Information Contexts

    Werning, 2021 Spychalska, M., Reimer, L., Schumacher, P. B., & Werning, M. (2021). The Cost of the Epistemic Step: Investigating Scalar Implicatures in Full and Partial Information Contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 2133....

    Storage fidelity for sequence memory in the hippocampal circuit

    Wiskott, 2018 Bayati, M., Neher, T., Melchior, J., Diba, K., Wiskott, L., & Cheng, S. (2018). Storage fidelity for sequence memory in the hippocampal circuit. PloS One, 13(10), e0204685. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204685

    Mechanistic flexibility of the Retrosplenial Cortex enables its contribution to spatial cognition

    Stacho & Manahan-Vaughan, 2022 Stacho M., & Manahan-Vaughan, D. (2022). Mechanistic flexibility of the Retrosplenial Cortex enables its contribution to spatial cognition. Trends In Neurosciences, 45(4), 284-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.01.007

    Adversarial attacks against automatic speech recognition systems via psychoacoustic hiding

    Kolossa, 2018 Schönherr, L., Kohls, K., Zeiler, S., Holz, T., & Kolossa, D. (2018). Adversarial Attacks Against Automatic Speech Recognition Systems via Psychoacoustic Hiding. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/pdf/1808.05665v2

    Diffusion markers of dendritic density and arborization in gray matter predict differences in intelligence

    Güntürkün, 2018 Genç, E., Fraenz, C., Schlüter, C., Friedrich, P., Hossiep, R., Voelkle, M. C., Güntürkün, O., … Jung, R. E. (2018). Diffusion markers of dendritic density and arborization in gray matter predict differences in intelligence. Nature Communications,...

    Intuitive Expertise in Moral Judgments

    Horvath, 2022 Horvath, J., & Wiegmann, A. (2022). Intuitive Expertise in Moral Judgments. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 100(2), 342–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2021.1890162

    Information Easiness Affects Non-experts’ Evaluation of Scientific Claims About Which They Hold Prior Beliefs

    Stadtler, 2021 Scharrer, L., Bromme, R., & Stadtler, M. (2021). Information Easiness Affects Non-experts’ Evaluation of Scientific Claims About Which They Hold Prior Beliefs. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 678313. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678313

    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.

    Trial-by-trial dynamics of reward prediction error-associated signals during extinction learning and renewal.

    Güntürkün, 2021 Packheiser, J., Donoso, J. R., Cheng, S., Güntürkün, O., & Pusch, R. (2021). Trial-by-trial dynamics of reward prediction error-associated signals during extinction learning and renewal. Progress in Neurobiology, 197, 101901....

    Mechanistic flexibility of the Retrosplenial Cortex enables its contribution to spatial cognition

    Manahan-Vaughan, 2022 Stacho M, Manahan-Vaughan D (2022) Mechanistic flexibility of the Retrosplenial Cortex enables its contribution to spatial cognition. Trends Neurosci. 45:284- 296. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.01.007