M.Sc. Dominik Aschenbrenner

Research Interest

I am a doctoral student in the Emmy Noether Group. Through my research I want to understand the mechanisms behind expertise and the acquisition of expertise. As research tools, I use psychophysics and advanced imaging techniques in human participants (including magnetic resonance imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy). My goal is to learn from experts and their specialized skills to find ways to improve learning processes. My doctoral position is supported by the Hector Fellow Academy.

Professional Experience

Since 02/2025: Graduate student (Ph.D.) in the Emmy Noether group. University of Regensburg, Germany.
02/2022 - 10/2024: Working Student for AVL Software and Functions GmbH. Regensburg, Germany.
09/2023 - 12/2023: Internship at Eintracht Braunschweig. Braunschweig, Germany.
01/2020 - 12/2020: Student Research Assistant. University of Regensburg, Germany.

Academic Education

29/11/2024: M.Sc. Psychology. University of Regensburg, Germany.
11/2020 - 11/2024: Studies of Psychology (M.Sc.). University of Regensburg, Germany.
21/03/2021: B.Sc. Psychology. University of Regensburg, Germany.
10/2018 - 03/2021: Studies of Psychology (B.Sc.). University of Regensburg, Germany.

Theses

11/2024: Master's thesis: "The Roles of Expertise and Training in Processing Task-irrelevant Vestibular Signals".
03/2021: Bachelor's thesis: "List-wide Proportion Congruency Effects in Interindividual Response Conflicts".

Talks

Aschenbrenner D, Hartl S, Wandl AS, Hegmann E-R, Frank SM (2025). Training in visual object tracking reduces cross-modal vestibular suppression. European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Mainz, Germany.

Posters

Aschenbrenner D, Frank SM (2025). Neural mechanisms of visual perceptual learning measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Hector Fellow Academy Symposium, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Publications

Wang Z, Wiborg S, Wittmann A, Beck N, Hirschle S, Aschenbrenner D, Becker M, Frank SM (2026). Goal-directed visual information processing with GABAergic inhibition in parietal cortex. eLife, 15, RP109344.https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.109344.1