Research Interests

I am interested in the neural bases of prosocial behavior. By adopting a neuro-computational approach and applying mathematical modelling techniques, I want to understand what neural and behavioral processes foster or hinder prosocial behavior. In this vein, I use different neural (fMRI, EEG) and behavioral (mouse-tracking, experience sampling, reaction time experiments) methods.

Project

In my current project, I investigate the interplay and development of different prosocial motives combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and drift-diffusion modelling. Specifically, I am interested in how the two prosocial motives empathy (sharing another person’s feeling) and reciprocity (returning a favor) interact and how these interactions shape neural circuitries of prosocial decision-making processes. Additionally, I investigate how empathy and reciprocity build-up and decay over time depending on the frequency with which they are activated.

CV

• Since 2017 University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
  PhD student and Fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
  Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Grit Hein
• 08/2017 - 05/2018 Parental leave
• 2015 - 2016 University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  Research associate (with Prof. Dr. Daria Knoch)
• 2007 - 2014 University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
  Diploma studies in physics (Thesis with Prof. Dr. Klaus Werner) and psychology (Thesis with Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leuthold)
• 08/2010 - 04/2011 Yale University, New Haven, USA
  Visiting Graduate Student at the Department of Psychology (with Prof. Dr. Jeremy Gray)

Further Information

Research Gate