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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

    15
    Jan

    <i>Linguistics:</i><br>Guendalina Reul (Köln)<br><b>The Multilayered Nature of Ad Hoc Metonymy: Evidence from EEG</b>

    January 15
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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    16
    Jan

    <i>Neurophysiology:</i><br>Daniel Pacheco (Barcelona)<br><b>Title TBA</b>

    January 16
    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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    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
    View Details

    Relevant Publications

    For full list of selected publications, see the publications page

    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...

    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

    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)

    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

    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

    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

    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).

    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...

    Mental Content

    Schlicht, 2022 Dołęga, K., & Schlicht, T. (2022). Mental Content. In Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience. Routledge.

    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),...

    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

    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:...

    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.

    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

    The function of teacher dashboards depends on the amount of time pressure in the classroom situation: results from teacher interviews and an experimental study

    Rummel, 2022 Van Leeuwen, A., & Rummel, N. (2022). The function of teacher dashboards depends on the amount of time pressure in the classroom situation: results from teacher interviews and an experimental study. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 50, 561–588....

    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

    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

    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

    The interaction of Bayesian pragmatics and lexical semantics in linguistic interpretation: Using event-related potentials to investigate hearers’ probabilistic predictions

    Werning, 2017 Werning, M., & Cosentino, E. (2017). The interaction of Bayesian pragmatics and lexical semantics in linguistic interpretation: Using event-related potentials to investigate hearers’ probabilistic predictions. In: G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T....

    Suicide ideation during the COVID-19 outbreak in German university students: Comparison with pre-COVID 19 rates

    Margraf, 2021 Brailovskaia, J., Teismann, T., Friedrich, S., Schneider, S., & Margraf, J. (2021). Suicide ideation during the COVID-19 outbreak in German university students: Comparison with pre-COVID 19 rates. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 6, 100228....

    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

    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,...

    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)....

    Stress and memory retrieval: mechanisms and consequences

    The function of teacher dashboards depends on the amount of time pressure in the classroom situation: results from teacher interviews and an experimental study

    Rummel, 2022 Van Leeuwen, A., & Rummel, N. (2022). The function of teacher dashboards depends on the amount of time pressure in the classroom situation: results from teacher interviews and an experimental study. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 50, 561–588....