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Conference Homepage: https://predcommlab.github.io/symposium-2026/#about
Upcoming Events
<i>Biopsychology</i> <br>Merel Jager (RUB) <br><b>Reality, survivorship bias, smooth sailing & the paradox of individuality</b>
<i>Psychology</i> <br>Katja Langer (RUB) <br><b>Accute stress effects on flexible emotion regulation choices: The moderation of working memory capacity </b>
<i>Philosophy</i> <br>Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri) <br><b>Thought as an Inner Navigation: A Neurocognitive Architecture for Propositional Thought</b>
<i>Philosophy</i> <br>Megan Entwistle (Université Grenoble Alpes) <br><b>TBA</b>
<i>Philosophy</i> <br>Monika Dunin-Kozicka (Lublin)<br><b>An Experiential Account of Pretense</b>
<i>Philosophy</i> <br>Daniel Burnston (Tulane University) & Tomas J. Ryan (Trinity College Dublin/CIFAR)<br><b>An Alternative to Encoding for Thinking About Neural Representation</b>
Relevant Publications
For full list of selected publications, see the publications page
Single neuron responses in NCL, MVL, and Wulst during the observation of videos of conspecifics support population feature coding
Representational dynamics during extinction of fear memories in the human brain
Stress, path integration, and the entorhinal cortex
The effects of pre-extinction stress vs. physical exercise on contextual retrieval and generalization
Selective spatial attention to competing speakers in azimuth and depth: Evidence from real and virtual environments
A computationally efficient music processing algorithm for cochlear implants based on an auditory adaptation model
Learning What to Remember: Semantic Attention in Generative Episodic Memory Model. In Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN).
Fayyaz, Z., Rathjens, J., Cheng, S., & Wiskott, L.. (2026). Learning What to Remember: Semantic Attention in Generative Episodic Memory Model. In Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN).
The impact of contingency awareness on the neurocircuitry underlying pain-related fear and safety learning
Reading media and multitasking: effects on comprehension and metacomprehension when reading multiple texts
Remembering without (representational) memory: a neuro-computational study on regaining categoricity and compositionality from minimal traces
Representational dynamics during extinction of fear memories in the human brain
Abstract Extinction learning—the suppression of a previously acquired fear response—is critical for adaptive behaviour and core for understanding the aetiology and treatment of anxiety disorders. Electrophysiological studies in rodents have revealed critical roles of theta (4–12 Hz) oscillations in amygdala and …
When is learning “effortful”? Scrutinizing the concept of mental effort in cognitively-oriented research from a motivational perspective
Costly pain avoidance and its impact on the modulation and extinction of visceral pain-related fear
Abstract Along the gut-brain axis, visceral pain demonstrably evokes emotional learning and memory processes shaping behavior in clinically relevant ways. Avoidance motivated by learned fear may constitute a major obstacle to treatment success in extinction-based interventions. However, the effects of …
Prediction error processing and sharpening of expected information across the face-processing hierarchy
Extinction context is learned by pigeons, not given by the environment
Abstract The saying “context is everything” underscores the importance of interpreting things, be they quotes, events, actions, or stimuli, not in isolation but in the light of a bigger picture – their context. This is evident even in fundamental forms …
Prior knowledge activation as preparation prior to instruction: does the coverage of relevant prior knowledge affect learning?
Abstract Two-phase instructional designs such as Productive and Vicarious Failure employ preparatory activities before explicit instruction. It is assumed that during this preparatory activity, students need to activate their prior knowledge in order to be prepared for subsequent instruction. However, …
Posttraining noradrenergic stimulation maintains hippocampal engram reactivation and episodic-like specificity of remote memory
Abstract Recent findings indicate that noradrenergic arousal maintains long-term episodic-like specificity of memory. However, the neural mechanism of how norepinephrine can alter the temporal dynamics of systems consolidation to maintain hippocampus dependency of remote memory is currently unknown. Memories are …
The Relationship Between Vividness of Positive Future-Oriented Mental Imagery, Anhedonia, and Positive Affect
The vividness with which people can imagine positive events happening in their future has been linked to a number of different aspects of psychopathology and wellbeing. These relationships are hypothesised to arise from the role of mental imagery in thinking …

