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Our choice of words often reveals more than we realize – for example, about whether we have experienced what we are talking about first-hand or not.
‘Mia stopped drinking coffee.’ A simple statement. And yet, this sentence can be used to communicate so much more. Not only do we learn that Mia does not currently drink coffee, but also that she used to drink coffee. Depending on who utters this sentence and how, it can also mean that the fact that Mia does not drink coffee might be a problem. Perhaps because there is only coffee in the house. Alternatively, it could be interpreted as Mia following a healthier lifestyle by giving up coffee.
“Up until some ten or 15 years ago, philosophical models of communication were still based on the assumption that communication involves exactly one speaker and one hearer. These models assume that the two would be perfectly rational and fully attentive, would strive to increase their shared knowledge, and would literally say what they mean. But this isn’t realistic,” believes Professor Kristina Liefke. She is Junior Professor of Philosophy of Information and Communication at Ruhr University Bochum.
Within the research unit “Constructing scenarios of the past: A new framework in episodic memory” (FOR 2812), Kristina Liefke and her colleagues are analyzing information that is indirectly communicated, but not directly expressed in a statement.
For the full article, visit RUB News
Begleitend zu einer Ausstellung im Dortmunder U ist Albert Newen bei WDR 5 im philosophischen Radio zu Gast.
Wahrnehmungen sind das Fenster zur Welt – zu den Dingen in unserer Umgebung, zu anderen Menschen und auch zu uns selbst. Wir sehen, hören, riechen und ertasten unsere Welt. Nehmen wir diese so wahr, wie sie ist, oder eher so, wie wir sie haben wollen? In welchem Maße wird unsere Wahrnehmung im Alltag von Vorurteilen, Denkmustern und Vorwissen beeinflusst? Und welche Folgen hat dies für unser Verstehen der Welt? Wie wird unser Bild von der Welt und von uns selbst geprägt? Zu diesen Fragen spricht Moderator Jürgen Wiebicke mit Prof. Dr. Albert Newen von der Ruhr-Universität Bochum am 31. März 2025 von 19.04 Uhr bis 20 Uhr in der Sendung „Das philosophische Radio“ in WDR 5.
For full article & audio visit RUB News
The locus coeruleus and the ventral tegmental area compete for control over the formation of memory content. This has been shown by a team of neuroscientists using light-controlled nerve cells.
Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, have studied the impact of two brain areas on the nature of memory content. The team from the Department of Neurophysiology showed in rats how the so-called locus coeruleus and the ventral tegmental area permanently alter brain activity in the hippocampus region, which is crucial for the formation of memory. The two areas compete with each other for influence to determine, for example, in what way emotionally charged and meaningful experiences are stored. Dr. Hardy Hagena and Professor Denise Manahan-Vaughan conducted the study using optogenetics. In the process, they genetically modified rats so that certain nerve cells could be activated or deactivated with light. They published their findings in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) on December 30, 2024.
For full article, see RUB News
A learning experiment with participants of different ages produced surprising results.
The ability to make the connection between an event and its consequences – experts use the term associative learning – is a crucial skill for adapting to the environment. It has a huge impact on our mental health. A study by the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center (FBZ) at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, shows that children of primary school age demonstrate the highest learning performance in this area. The results pave the way for a fresh perspective on associative learning disorders, which are linked to the development of mental illness later in life. The researchers published their findings in the journal Communications Psychology on December 16, 2024.
Until now, it was unclear how associative learning develops over different stages of life. This is why the team headed by Professor Silvia Schneider, Professor of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, and Dr. Carolin Konrad conducted the first systematic study of this ability in infants, children, adolescents and adults. In the study, test participants had to learn to react to a stimulus with a specific response.
For full article, visit RUB News
Forschende aus der Philosophie der drei Ruhrgebietsuniversitäten zeigen im Dortmunder U optische Täuschungen.
Vom 28. Februar bis zum 6. April 2025 können Gäste der Ausstellung „Wahrnehmen & Verstehen – die Welt, sich selbst und andere“ die faszinierenden Prozesse der menschlichen Wahrnehmung erkunden. Die Ausstellung auf der Hochschuletage des Dortmunder U wird vom MERCUR-geförderten Projekt „SAPHIR – Systematic Analytic Philosophy in the Ruhr Area“ unter Beteiligung der Philosophie-Institute der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Albert Newen), der Technischen Universität Dortmund (Katja Crone) und Universität Duisburg-Essen (Raphael van Riel) organisiert.
https://www.wie-wir-die-welt-sehen.de
For full article, see RUB News
All about the work of the Collaborative Research Center 1280.
Do you know this too? You get a new PIN for your debit card, memorize it at home, but then stand in front of the ATM and all that comes to mind is your old PIN. This is because your brain still associates your old PIN with this place. Presumably a bearable problem if it’s only about withdrawing money. However, if you have learned to associate neutral experiences with fear and cannot get rid of it, this can have serious consequences. The reason is that relearning – also known as extinction learning – does not work properly.
The team from the Collaborative Research Center 1280 “Extinction Learning” investigates what happens in the brain during extinction learning, why context is crucial and what this means for overcoming fear and pain. The researchers report on their work in a special edition of the science magazine Rubin. It was published on January 7, 2025 and is available online.
Pigeons are hard-working learners. And quite clever. A stroke of luck for the Bochum biopsychologists, who, thanks to them, are making advances into the fundamental mechanisms of extinction learning.
A yellow square lights up. Peck! The pigeon hits the glowing square with its beak. Shortly after, a flap at its feet opens up and releases a food pellet, which disappears into its beak in an instant. With the aid of rewards of this kind, pigeons quickly learn to associate the reaction to an actually neutral stimulus such as the illuminated square with a positive outcome. The Biopsychology research group at Ruhr University Bochum, however, is above all interested in what happens when the birds have to relearn, i.e. if the yellow square suddenly no longer results in a reward. The mechanisms of this extinction learning are the focus of Collaborative Research Center 1280.
Unlike in many other experiments, Bochum biopsychologists Dr. Roland Pusch and Professor Onur Güntürkün work with birds instead of mice, rats, or humans. “We are studying an animal whose last shared ancestor with these three species lived 324 million years ago: the pigeon,” explains Onur Güntürkün. The reason for this is simple: Pusch and Güntürkün are searching for the fundamental components of extinction learning that should even be the same in species far distant from humans from an evolutionary perspective.
For full article, visit RUB News
Fundamental research: Many people in academia are concerned with the pursuit of knowledge, without an explicit application in mind. Is that a good thing? A commentary by Onur Güntürkün.
Many researchers are familiar with this situation: They are asked what they are working on, talk about their project and then hear the question: What is it good for? I too am familiar with this situation. My research group is interested in how the brains of birds and humans work and how behavior arises. Like many other basic researchers, we cannot answer the question about the meaning of our work by claiming that we want to cure a disease, stop climate change or develop a new product for industry. We do research to gain knowledge. Does that make sense? Yes, it does.
For full article, visit RUB News
In an ERC Consolidator Grant, Maike Luhmann is exploring how places relate to loneliness. She also hopes to find out how loneliness can be combated.
Are there any places where people feel particularly lonely or where they don’t feel lonely at all? Professor Maike Luhmann argues that the relationship between place and loneliness should be described in dynamic terms. What one person finds lonely, another may find inviting. A place that seems desolate to one person on one day may seem completely different on another day or at another time. In her project “Loneliness Across Time And Space” (LOTIS), Luhmann, a professor of psychological methods at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, is putting this dynamic relationship into a new theoretical framework, while incorporating people’s mobility patterns at the same time. The project is funded by the European Research Council ERC with a Consolidator Grant of approximately 2 million euros over five years.
For the full article, visit RUB News
The University Alliance Ruhr continues to expand its cutting-edge research in Duisburg-Essen, Bochum, and Dortmund.
The four Research Centers and the College of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) form a new research hub in the Ruhr area. Twenty-seven international top scientists have already chosen a future within the UA Ruhr and thus at one of the three partner universities: Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, or the University of Duisburg-Essen. In total, more than 50 new research professorships are being created within the centers and the college.
Some of the center researchers are part of the new hub: Lucia Melloni, Caspar Schwiedrzik.
For the full article, visit RUB News
Wozu haben wir ein Gedächtnis? Aktuellen Forschungen zufolge nicht nur dafür, um in Erinnerungen an Vergangenes zu schwelgen.
Unser Gehirn speichert Erlebtes ab, um daraus Vorhersagen für die Zukunft ableiten zu können. Sollten diese nicht mit der Realität übereinstimmen, es also zu einem Vorhersagefehler gekommen sein, werden nicht nur neue Erwartungen erzeugt, sondern auch die Erinnerungen modifiziert. Diese neue Sicht auf das Gedächtnis wirft viele Forschungsfragen auf, denen sich ein Forschungskonsortium der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) und der Universität Duisburg Essen (UDE) ab Januar 2022 fünf Jahre lang widmen wird. Es wird vom Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR) mit rund zwei Millionen Euro gefördert.
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Um mit den exzentrischen Krähenvögeln zu arbeiten, braucht es Geduld und Zeit. Aber sie gehören zu den intelligentesten Vertretern im Vogelreich.
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Das in Bochum gegründete Netzwerk will Forscherinnen international sichtbarer machen. Zugleich ist es ein nützliches Tool für die Recherche.
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Das Medikament beeinträchtigt möglicherweise die Leistung des Hippocampus.
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Warum grüßt der mich nicht? Nicht immer muss dahinter böse Absicht stecken. Manche Menschen können ihr Gegenüber anhand des Gesichts nicht erkennen.
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Unterschiede sind situativ und kontextgebunden. Emotionen spielen eine wichtige Rolle.
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Die Mechanismen sind viel komplexer als bislang gedacht.
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Die beiden Projekte wollen bislang unbekannte neuronale Grundlagen des Arbeitsgedächtnisses aufdecken und widersprüchliche Befunde zum Einfluss von Stress auf das Gedächtnis in Einklang bringen.
For full article, see RUB News
Schlaf hilft, Erinnerungen zu festigen. Wie genau das funktioniert, haben Forscher aus Bochum und Bonn untersucht. Auch Dinge, die wir vergessen, sind nicht sofort weg.
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Als einzige deutsche Hochschule bietet die Ruhr-Universität bei dieser Weiterbildung Theorie und Praxis unter einem Dach.
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Unter den Wirbeltieren gibt es viele Navigationskünstler. Wie sie die Leistungen vollbringen, ist nicht im Detail geklärt.
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Diabetes, Krebs, psychische Störungen – um diese Krankheiten zu verstehen, muss man weit zurückblicken.
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Wie wir lernen, die Gründe zu verstehen, aus denen andere etwas tun.
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Wenn wir uns an etwas zu erinnern versuchen, rufen wir ein Szenario auf. Es wird erst konstruiert, während wir zurückdenken, meinen Forscher.
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