Mai 07, 2026 at 3:45pm 

Title: Learning, memory and cognitive control across the lifespan

Speaker:  Yana Fandakova (Department of Psychology - Learning Brain Lab, Trier University; invited by Daniela Czernochowski)

Abstract: Ensuring efficient learning and memory is not an easy feat: we need to select what and how to learn, acquire new information so that it can be retrieved when needed, often in a new context or after prolonged periods of time. Cognitive control processes play a critical role for scaffolding learning and memory by monitoring and regulating information processing in line with current goals and task demands. These processes are implemented by a core set of frontal and parietal brain regions that undergo a relatively protracted development across childhood and adolescence, and decline in old age. I will first highlight work demonstrating that changes in monitoring and control across childhood and in old age contribute to individual differences in episodic memory. I will then outline ongoing work probing the neural basis of cognitive control development in children. Finally, I will discuss how curiosity contributes to learing across childhood and adolescence. Together, this work seeks to understand the mechanisms through which cognitive control processes and intrinsic motivation shape learning and memory development across the lifespan.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 508

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61927071793?pwd=rGD1ejFiX1ooRU3Lb8oXCWz0RgN81z.1 

Mai 21, 2026 at 3:45pm 

Title: Using diachronic change to predict variation in heritage languages

Speaker: Sol Lago (Institute of Romance Languages and Literatures - Goethe Universtiy - Frankfurt; invited by Shanley Allen)

Abstract:  Can processes of language change help explain variability in heritage languages? This talk addresses this question through two Romance phenomena: null objects in Portuguese and clitic doubling in Spanish. I present behavioral and eye-tracking evidence comparing heritage speakers of European Spanish and Portuguese with speakers of varieties that are diachronically more advanced with respect to these phenomena—Argentinian Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The experiments test whether the real-time processing profiles of heritage speakers mirror those observed in diachronically more advanced varieties. By integrating methods and perspectives from psycholinguistics and historical linguistics, the talk advances a different view of heritage language variability as part of broader trajectories of grammatical change.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 508

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61927071793?pwd=rGD1ejFiX1ooRU3Lb8oXCWz0RgN81z.1 

Mai 28, 2026 at 3:45pm 

Title: Functional Plasticity in the Language Network

Speaker: Gesa Hartwigsen (Research Group Cognition and Plasticity - Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig; invited by Thomas Lachmann)

Abstract: Efficient communication requires flexible interactions between distributed neural networks in the human brain. These networks adapt to challenges by flexibly recruiting different regions and connections. In this talk, I will discuss how we study functional plasticity in the language network with combined neurostimulation and neuroimaging across the adult life span. I will argue that short-term plasticity enables flexible adaptation to challenges, via functional reorganization. My key hypothesis is that disruption of language function can be compensated for by the recruitment of domain-general networks in our brain. Examples from healthy young brains illustrate how neurostimulation can be used to temporarily interfere with efficient processing, probing short-term network plasticity at the systems level. Examples from people with dyslexia help to better understand network disorders in the language domain and outline the potential of facilitatory neurostimulation for treatment. I will also discuss examples from aging brains where plasticity helps to compensate for loss of function. Finally, examples from lesioned brains after stroke provide insight into the brain’s potential for long-term reorganization and recovery of function. Collectively, these results challenge the view of a modular organization of the human brain and argue for a flexible redistribution of function via systems plasticity.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 508

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61927071793?pwd=rGD1ejFiX1ooRU3Lb8oXCWz0RgN81z.1 

Juni 18, 2026 at 3:45pm 

Title: Mini Conference - Cognitive Science

Speaker: Master students from Cognitive Science

Abstract: Talks and poster presentations from various labrotations

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 508