M.Sc. Manuel Pöhlmann
Doktorand im DFG-Projekt
- Fax: 0941 943-1995
- Standort: PT 4.1.47
- Wichtige Informationen: Sprechstunde: nach Vereinbarung
Forschungsprojekte
From representation to action: uncovering how task representations shape voluntary task choice
Teilprojekt der geförderten Forschungsgruppe FOR 6047 "Voluntary task switching: Cognitive processes and models to account for task choices"
Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DR 392/15-1, MU 5241/4-1)
Funding Period: 48 months (starting spring 2026)
A central question in cognitive psychology is how mental representations influence behavior, particularly when individuals navigate the everyday challenges of managing multiple tasks. Early task-switching research introduced the concept of a “task set” and largely focused on the mechanisms involved in switching tasks (e.g., Allport et al., 1995; Rogers & Monsell, 1995). However, these studies provided limited insights into how tasks are mentally represented and, conversely, how task representations influence task-switching behavior. Others (e.g., Dreisbach, 2012; Gilbert & Shallice, 2002; Herd et al., 2014; Musslick & Cohen, 2021) have suggested that the way in which tasks are represented critically influences our ability to switch between tasks. Yet relatively little is known about how these representations emerge and how they shape our willingness to change tasks. In this project, we aim to close this gap by combining behavioral experiments with neural network modeling. This project investigates how task representations emerge and how they affect task choice. Additionally, we will examine how task representations, once established, are updated or modified in response to new stimuli that violate the established representation Finally, we will explore how task representations are individually formed based on prior similarity judgments of stimuli. Each behavioral experiment will be complemented by computational simulations of a connectionist model, offering mechanistic accounts of how different patterns of behavior emerge from varying representations of stimuli and tasks. Taken together this project aims to elucidate the cognitive and computational mechanisms underlying the relationship between task representations and task switching behavior, providing new insights into how people flexibly adapt to changing task demands and choose between tasks.
PI - Projekt 1 (behavioral studies): Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach (University of Regensburg)
Ph.D. student: M.Sc. Manuel Pöhlmann (University of Regensburg)
PI - Projekt 2 (computational modeling): Prof. Dr. Sebastian Musslick (University of Osnabrück) (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Ph.D. student: N.N. (University of Osnabrück)