Abschlussarbeiten
Vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an einer Abschlussarbeit in der Kognitionspsychologie!
Wir bieten fortlaufend Themen für Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten in den Forschungsfeldern unseres Arbeitsbereichs an.
Abschlussarbeiten werden bei uns typischerweise im Rahmen größerer Forschungsprojekte geschrieben, wobei jede/r einzelne Studierende eine eigene (Sub-)Fragestellung bearbeitet. Die Datenerhebungen finden oft im Team statt. Datenauswertung und Berichtlegung sind jedoch als unabhängige Einzelleistungen zu erbringen. Es werden nur empirische Arbeiten bei uns im Arbeitsbereich betreut.
Im Rahmen der unten aufgelisteten Forschungsprojekte werden zahlreiche Daten erhoben, z.B. zum chronischen Stresserleben, zu Ängstlichkeit oder depressiver Verstimmung. Es ist daher auch möglich, im Rahmen dieser Forschungsprojekte Subfragestellungen zu bearbeiten, die von der Hauptfragestellung des Projekts unabhängig sind. Kommen Sie gern auf uns zu. Wir können sowohl die inhaltliche als auch die zeitliche Ausgestaltung der Abschlussarbeit gern individuell mit Ihnen abstimmen.
Aktuelle Forschungsprojekte:
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What is a habit? – Investigating complex association structures
What exactly is a habit? Traditionally, this question has been explored through dual-system theories, which suggest that human behavior is controlled either by a goal-directed system (focused on achieving specific goals) or by a habitual system (Balleine & Dickinson, 1998). This project aims to test and expand upon an alternative, integrative theory of complex habits (Du et al., 2022), with a particular focus on how habits contribute to motor skill learning.
In this computer-based experiment, we will investigate whether different types of associations can become habitual independently of one another.
Study design and measurements:
During the learning phase, participants will learn different associations (e.g. between a goal and a stimulus, or between a goal and a response) by responding to various stimuli. In this phase, different features of the response, and the stimuli will be manipulated to affect the associative strength.
In the test phase, we will examine how these associations influence behaviour. For this, we will first focus on reaction times, error rates and the quality of errors, and, in later studies also investigate brain activity via EE.
For who is this project?:
This project is an excellent opportunity for Bachelor’s or Master’s students, offering hands-on experience with developing a research question, collecting data and gather experience with analyzing the results.
Contact:
sarah.koch"AT"uni-hamburg.de
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Repetition, depth of processing, and memory consolidation Background
Why do we remember some things for weeks while other memories quickly fade away? This project combines two parallel studies investigating how initial encoding conditions shape the long-term stabilization of memories in the brain.
The role of repetition: We investigate whether repeating information during learning "fast-tracks" memory stabilization to neocortical networks, and whether this rapid neural shift makes memories more abstract or preserves detailed episodic details.
Depth of processing: We look at how mental effort during learning (e.g., deciding if a word fits a sentence versus simply judging its letter case) affects memory durability and its neural reorganization over a 4-week delay. This study is based on a very famous and foundational Levels of Processing theory.
Design & measurements:
Both studies combine behavioral memory testing with high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI). Because these two projects are run together, we collect a highly comprehensive dataset that includes:
- High-resolution 3T functional MRI (fMRI).
- Eye-tracking metrics (pupil size dynamics, gaze dispersion, and fixation patterns).
- Autonomic measures (pulse and skin conductance).
- Psychological and cognitive baseline profiles (e.g., stress, mood, anxiety, depression, processing speed questionnaires).
Options for students:
Since these studies are run in parallel, you will have access to a rich dataset and a wide variety of research questions.
Bachelor’s students can focus on behavioral data, eye-tracking metrics, or explore how individual differences (such as stress, anxiety, or processing speed) relate to memory performance.
Master’s students have the additional option to dive into advanced neuroimaging (fMRI) data, analyzing univariate brain activity or multivariate pattern similarity.
Your involvement in the project will include assisting with participant recruitment, helping with data collection (including MRI preparation and physiological measurements), and analyzing the data to answer your specific research question.
Timeline:
Data collection started in late 2025 and is currently ongoing.
Contact:
ivana.marijanovic"AT"uni-hamburg.de
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Merging Memories Over Time: How the Brain Blurs Spatial and Temporal Boundaries (MergeMem)
Background:
Episodic memories allow us to remember what happened, where, and when. However, as time passes and memories rely less on the hippocampus, do the boundaries between distinct events begin to blur?
In this project, we investigate "spatiotemporal merging"- the process by which memories originally encoded in different places and on different days become overlapping and interchangeable in the brain. We use a multi-day paradigm and repeated functional neuroimaging to track how these spatial and temporal boundaries change in the hippocampus and neocortex.
Design & measurements
This is a multi-day study where participants learn specific person-detail associations within different visual background contexts across two successive days. Memory retrieval is tested in the MRI scanner either immediately or after a 6-day delay to track how boundaries fade over time. We record:
- High-resolution fMRI (focusing on pattern similarity along the hippocampal axis and neocortex).
- Eye-tracking metrics (gaze dispersion and pupil size).
- Behavioral metrics (memory accuracy, specific error/lure patterns, and reaction times).
- Psychological and cognitive baseline profiles (e.g., stress, mood, anxiety, depression, processing speed questionnaires).
Options for students
This project is an excellent fit for students interested in cognitive neuroscience, memory transformation, and neuroimaging.
- Bachelor’s students can investigate behavioral patterns of memory merging, eye-tracking markers of retrieval effort, or look at how sleep quality and stress levels relate to memory fading.
- Master’s students can also work with advanced neuroimaging analyses, such as representational similarity analysis (RSA) or encoding-retrieval similarity (ERS).
Your involvement in the project will include assisting with participant recruitment, helping with data collection (including MRI preparation and physiological measurements), and analyzing the data to answer your specific research question.
Timeline:
Data collection started in June 2026 and is currently ongoing.
Contact:
ivana.marijanovic"AT"uni-hamburg.de
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When Do Surprises Stick in Memory and What Does the Brain Do While We Learn to Feel Safe Again?
Every day, we predict what will happen next: a friend’s reaction, a bus arrival, a sports event. When our expectations are violated, those moments often become unusually memorable. This project explores how people learn from surprising outcomes and how these learning signals shape what we remember. We also look at how the brain responds during this process using functional near‑infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non‑invasive method that tracks changes in blood oxygenation.
In this study, participants complete a classical conditioning task in which certain cues sometimes predict an aversive outcome. After an initial learning phase, they go through an extinction phases where the aversive outcome vanished. Throughout the task, we record behavioral responses, trial‑by‑trial oucome predictions, and fNIRS activity over prefrontal regions. On the next day, participants complete a surprise memory test for the items they saw during learning and extinction. This design allows us to examine how prediction errors (i.e. the difference between what people expect and what actually happens) influence both memory and neural activity across different stages of learning.
Students working on this project will gain hands‑on experience with behavioral data collection, fNIRS measurement, and quantitative analysis. They will learn how to preprocess behavioral and neural data, work with prediction‑error models, and analyze memory performance across phases. Students will also have the opportunity to develop their own focused research question within the broader theme of how humans learn from surprising events and how the brain supports this learning.
Possible research questions include:
- Do prediction errors during extinction phases influence memory as prediction errors during learning do?
- How does prefrontal fNIRS activity track changes in expectancy across learning and extinction?
Contact: leon.lange"AT"uni-hamburg.de