Mai 08, 2026 at 10:15am

Title: Semester Welcome Brunch

Speaker: Thomas Lachmann

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 6

Mai 22, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: Letters in context: Investigating the Negative Congruence Effect of Letter Recognition

Speaker:  Lais Muntini (PhD student; supervisor: Thomas Lachmann & Jon  Duñabeitia)

Abstract: Literature suggests categorical differences in the processing of letters and non-letters: letters rely on highly practiced, automatized, analytic representations that conflict with the grouping tendencies induced by congruent surrounding shapes, whereas non-letters are more susceptible to holistic integration with the surrounding context. This is described as the negative congruence effect for letters, i.e., performance is reduced when letters are surrounded by a congruent shape, while incongruent surrounds produce positive or neutral congruence effects. In the present study, we investigated whether these effects can be modulated when the surrounding visual context is extended by the addition of flankers that repeat the shape surrounding the targets. In a speeded target identification task, we manipulated surrounding congruence (congruent vs. incongruent), flanker condition (none, two flankers, four flankers) and target type (letter vs psedoletter). We hypothesized that flankers may form a broader contextual structure, making the central letter more isolated and thereby reducing or eliminating the influence of the surrounding shape. Crowding could also increase holistic processing, creating an interference effect and causing the suppression of letter distinctions, i.e., ignore letter category. Results showed that performance decreased with the number of flankers, suggesting interference from the surroundings in the identification of both letters and pseudoletters. However, a significant interaction indicated that pseudoletters were more affected by incongruent surrounds, while letters remained relatively stable. Notably, no three-way interaction was found between target type, surround congruence, and flanker condition. These findings corroborate evidence for the negative congruence effect and support the presumption of crowding interference. Although descriptive patterns suggested a slight advantage for letters in the incongruent condition with increasing flankers, no statistical significancy was found; hence, the isolation hypothesis was not confirmed by our experiment. This was interpreted as a material-related visual angle limitation. This investigation highlights how immediate and expanded context shape letter recognition. 

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61377083120?pwd=vMtvs0gSchQx83Os8RcuqKVQEb4YYE.1

June 12, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: Modelling Hand Movement Trajectories in Rapid Chase

Speaker:  Omar Jubran (Cognitive and Developmental Psychology - RPTU Kaiserslautern)

Abstract: Many visual perception processes have been argued to be feedforward processes. In response priming, the Rapid Chase Theory postulates that primes initiate motor responses that are later taken over by targets depending on stimulus onset asynchrony (Schmidt et al., 2006). Continuous movement-tracking (CMT) is an efficient method for examining the dynamics of such a perceptual process. This method also enables modelling cognitive processes from the “outside in,” i.e., inferring latent activation processes from observable motor behaviour. If response priming is a feedforward process, then the motor response to primes and targets should closely reflect the underlying activation dynamics. To capture this, hand trajectories from 4 experimental conditions from Schmidt et al. (2006) are first analysed and then used to simulate hand movements. Each movement is characterized by a decision time (initiation latency) and an acceleration parameter (response force). Parameter distributions were estimated using Bayesian inference from a single experimental condition (strong target, high contrast). The remaining three conditions are then simulated by systematically adjusting these parameters according to differences in stimulus properties (target strength and contrast), rather than refitting the model. This approach tests whether a single set of inferred parameters can generalize across conditions when modulated by stimulus properties. Both empirical and simulated data are analysed using Spatiotemporal Survival Analysis (StSA). This distributional approach captures the time course of response activation without data trimming or averaging, instead leveraging the full dataset. Results show that early responses are driven by prime information and later overtaken by target-driven activation across all conditions. Target takeover times remain stable, while acceleration varies with stimulus properties. The simulations successfully reproduce this pattern, supporting feedforward accounts of visuomotor processing.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61377083120?pwd=vMtvs0gSchQx83Os8RcuqKVQEb4YYE.1

June 19, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: The Feature Flip-flop: Task Relevance Gates Response Priming In Colour And Shape Dimensions

Speaker:  Xin Ying Lee (PhD student; supervisor: Thomas Schmidt)

Abstract: The study investigates how task relevance and stimulus visibility jointly influence response priming across two visual dimensions, colour and shape. Across two experiments, participants responded to sequentially presented coloured shapes (red/green or red/blue in circle/square). Depending on the task, they responded either the colour or the shape of a target while ignoring the other dimension. In Experiment 1, the task-relevant dimension was varied across sessions to examine how task dimension influence priming. In Experiment 2, prime visibility was additionally manipulated by presenting the prime behind grey occluders of varying thickness. Both experiments presented robust priming effects, but with a striking task-dependent pattern. Only the colour of the prime influenced responses in the colour task, and only the shape of the prime influenced responses in the shape task. The task-irrelevant features seemed to be blocked from activating the motor response. We refer to this pattern as a “feature flipflop”, just as its resemblance to the operation of an electronic flip-flop gate. Importantly, this pattern persisted across visibility levels in Experiment 2, although overall priming magnitude decreased as prime visibility was reduced. These findings suggest that response priming is modulated by stimulus visibility, which determines the strength of feedforward activation, and task-dependence, which determines which feature dimension is permitted to reach the motor response. We discuss these results within an action trigger framework, in which task-defined templates gate feedforward signals before they activate a motor response.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61377083120 pwd=vMtvs0gSchQx83Os8RcuqKVQEb4YYE.1 

June 26, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: The Cognitive Imprint of AI: Shaping Design Literacy in the Generative Age

Speaker: Claudia Nass Bauer (PhD student; supervisor: Thomas Lachmann)

Abstract: Design is increasingly understood as a cognitively rich form of creative problem solving. Experienced designers rely on advanced cognitive strategies such as navigating the problem and solution interplay, externalizing ideas through sketches and diagrams, iteratively evaluating alternatives, and drawing on intuition when dealing with ambiguity. In contrast, novice designers often lack the metacognitive strategies and design fluency required to tackle open-ended design challenges effectively. At the same time, generative AI tools are becoming deeply embedded in human-centered design processes, fundamentally changing how ideas are explored, visualized, and refined.

My PhD project investigates the cognitive imprint that generative AI leaves on novice designers. Drawing on theories from cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, and instructional design, the research examines how AI systems influence problem framing, ideation, externalization, evaluation, and the development of design expertise. Using a combination of qualitative and experimental approaches, the project aims to understand how AI reshapes mental models, decision-making strategies, and creative routines, and how these technologies can be integrated into design education in ways that support rather than replace the development of essential design competencies.

In this session, I would like to share my PhD project, discuss my planned methodology and research trajectory, and identify common interests and opportunities for exchange with other members of the Cognitive Science community. I look forward to an open discussion and feedback on possible connections to ongoing research.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61377083120?pwd=vMtvs0gSchQx83Os8RcuqKVQEb4YYE.1 

July 03, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: Early language development in Mongolian-speaking children

Speaker: Dorjderem Byambasuren (PhD student; Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Shanley Allen)

Abstract: A recent systematic review highlighted the need for greater representation of understudied languages and cultures in child language development research (Kidd & Garcia, 2022). Typologically agglutinative languages remain underrepresented, and little is known about early language development in Mongolian. To address this gap, my doctoral project investigates early language development in monolingual Mongolian-speaking children aged 1;6-4;0. The project has two main components. First, it provides a general overview of Mongolian child language and child-directed speech following the Acquisition Sketch approach, which aims to document language acquisition in understudied languages (Defina et al., 2023). Second, it adapts and standardizes the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) for Mongolian, a widely used tool for assessing early vocabulary and grammatical development that has been adapted for more than 100 languages. In this talk, I will present the current progress and preliminary findings of both components.

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR 

Zoom Link: https://uni-kl-de.zoom-x.de/j/61377083120?pwd=vMtvs0gSchQx83Os8RcuqKVQEb4YYE.1 

July 10, 2026 at 10:15 am 

Title: 

Speaker:  Nicole Roemer (Graduate School member)

Abstract: 

Location: RPTU - Campus Kaiserslautern, Building 57, Room 315

OR 

Zoom Link: