M.Sc. Manuel Pöhlmann

• seit 06/2026: Doktorand am Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine und Angewandte Psychologie (Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach), Universität Regensburg. Promotionsthema: “From representation to action: Uncovering how task representations shape voluntary task choice”.
• 10/2021 - 12/2025: M.Sc. Kognitive Psychologie und Kognitive Neurowissenschaften, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Thema der Masterarbeit: “Effects of Mu Suppression Neurofeedback Training on Social Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder”.
• 10/2018 - 09/2021: B.Sc. Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Thema der Bachelorarbeit: “The Effect of Acoustic Parameters on Perceived Naturalness and Emotion in Voices”. 

• seit 06/2026: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine und Angewandte Psychologie (Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach), Universität Regensburg.
• 03/2024- 05/2026: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Psychologie und Kognitive Neurowissenschaften (Prof. Dr. Stefan Schweinberger), Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
• 01/2022 - 02/2024: Akademischer Tutor am Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Psychologie und Kognitive Neurowissenschaften (Prof. Dr. Stefan Schweinberger), Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
• 09/2023 - 12/2023: Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft in einem DFG-geförderten Forschungsprojekt (Leitung: Dr. Sven Kachel), Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau.
• 02/2022 - 06/2022: Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft in einem DFG-geförderten Forschungsprojekt (Leitung: Dr. Sven Kachel), Universität Koblenz-Landau.
• 06/2021 - 01/2022: Studentische Hilfskraft am Biomagnetischen Zentrum des Universitätsklinikums Jena. 

• Einfluss mentaler Repräsentationen auf Entscheidungsprozesse bei Aufgabenwechsel
• Soziale Kognition bei Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen
• Stimmwahrnehmung

• Kachel, S., Pöhlmann, M., & Nussbaum, C. (2023). Queer Events, Relationships, and Sports: Does Topic Influence Speakers' Acoustic Expression of Sexual Orientation? In INTERSPEECH 2023 (p 4269-4273). ISCA. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2023-2087
• Nussbaum, C., Pöhlmann, M., Kreysa, H., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2023). Perceived Naturalness of Emotional Voice Morphs. Cognition & Emotion, 37(4), 731-747. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2023.2200920

• Pöhlmann, M. (2025). Effects of Mu Suppression Neurofeedback Training on Social Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder - A Pilot Study [Master Thesis]. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
• Pöhlmann, M. (2021). The Effect of Acoustic Parameters on Perceived Naturalness and Emotion in Voices [Bachelor Thesis]. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.

• Kachel, S., Pöhlmann, M., & Nussbaum, C. (2024, June). Straighter Voice Information Leads to Straighter Perceptions: Causal Implications for Sexual Orientation Perception Using a Voice-Morphing Approach. Panel contribution at the 18^th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP18:24), Talinn, Estonia. [Part of Panel: Fasoli, F., & Kachel, S. (2024). Voice-based perception of minority groups: Processes and consequences.]
• Kachel, S., Pöhlmann, M., & Nussbaum, C. (2023, August). Queer Events, Relationships, and Sports: Does Topic Influence Speakers' Acoustic Expression of Sexual Orientation? Poster Presentation at the 24^th INTERSPEECH Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
• Nussbaum, C., Pöhlmann, M., Kreysa, H., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2022, March). Percepved naturalness of emotional voice morphs. Talk at the 64^th Conference of Experimental Psychologists (TeaP), Cologne, Germany.

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 - Project 1 (behavioral studies): Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach (University of Regensburg)
Ph.D. student: M.Sc. Manuel Pöhlmann (University of Regensburg)

PI - Project 2 (computational modeling): Prof. Dr. Sebastian Musslick (University of Osnabrück) (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Ph.D. student: M.Sc. Muhip Tezcan (University of Osnabrück) (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

• OSF
• ORCID
• ResearchGate

• British Journal of Psychology