Prof. Dr. Dr. Moritz Köster

• seit 2022 Professor für Entwicklungs- und Kognitionspsychologie, Universität Regensburg
• 2017-2021 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Postdoc), Freie Universität Berlin
• 2018-2019 Gastwissenschaftler (Postdoc), Kyoto Universität, Japan
• 2017-2019 Gastwissenschaftler (Postdoc), Max-Planck-Institute für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften Leipzig
• 2018 Promotion in der Psychologie (Dr. phil., summa cum laude), Universität Osnabrück
• 2016 Promotion in der Psychologie (Dr. rer. nat., summa cum laude), Universität Münster
• 2013 Diplom in Psychologie (mit Auszeichnung), Universität Osnabrück
• 2012 Bachelor in Cognitive Science (mit Auszeichnung), Universität Osnabrück

preprints

Köster, M., Schirmer, M., Schäfer, M., Kärtner, J., Ainamani, H., Cavalcante, L., Itakura, S., Jiménez-Balam, D., Abromeit, M., Hilbert, S., & Kanngiesser, P. (preprint). Parental behavior shows systematic urban–rural differences across the globe. doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/y5jv7_v1 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Kroczek, L., Köster, M., & Mühlberger, A. (preprint). Neural and Affective Dynamics of Social Context Conditioning in Virtual Reality. doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/sftu3_v1 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Tebbe, A., Rothmaler, K., Köster, M., Wiesmann C. (preprint). Infants and adults neurally represent the perspective of others like their own perception. doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.06.605501 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Fulcher, T., Köster, M., Woodward, A. (preprint). Infants Understand Others’ Needs – An Independent Replication. doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4347478 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2026 & in press

Baldauf, M., Jensen, O., Köster, M. (accepted). Infant Brains Tick at 4Hz - Resonance Properties of the Developing Visual System. elife. (preprint under review: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.11.675068  (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster))

Garzòn, M., Korja, R., Ainamani, H., Ndyareeba, E., Töpfer, P., Holmberg, E. & Köster, M. (2026). Unpredictable Maternal Behavior and Infant Emotional Reactivity in the Context of High Maternal Adversity. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacaf010 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Vreden, C., Köster, M., Abbit, L., Ainembabazi, P., Cook, A., Kakai, B., Katusiime, P., Landstedt, J., Mazari, S., Murokore, E., Renner, E., Clay, Z. (in press) Helping Infants to Help: Cultural Variation in Maternal Scaffolding and the Development of Prosocial Behaviour. Developmental Psychology.

2025

Köster, M., Periard, I., Itakura, S., Omori, M., & Kärtner, J. (2025). Culture-specific socialization in the first year predicts infants’ prosocial development at the end of the second year. Developmental Psychology. doi.org/10.1037/dev0002013 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Michel, C., Langeloh, M., Tünte, M., Köster, M. & Hoehl, S. (in press). No clear evidence for a domain-general violation of expectation effect in the pupillary responses of 9-to 10-month-olds. Plos One. (preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/v5yh7_v1 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster))

Benz, F., Hanna, S., Harvey, N., Vollmer, B., Köster, M., Villar, J., Fernandes, M. (2025). Early neurophysiological markers of aberrant auditory processing associated with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. Pediatric Investigation. doi.org/10.1002/ped4.12460 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Fonseca, B., Priante, P., Köster, M., Kärtner, J., Cavalcante L. (2025). Maternal Socialization Goals and Children’s Requested Behaviors. Paidéia doi.org/10.1590/1982-4327e3434 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2024

Köster, M. (2024) The theta-gamma code in predictive processing and mnemonic updating. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105529 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M. & Hepach, R. (2024). Preverbal infants' understanding of social norms. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53110-3 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Bohn, M., da Silva, W., Giner Torréns, M., Kärtner, J., Itakura, S., Cavalcante L., Haun, D., Köster, M.*, & Kanngiesser, P.* (2024). Mealtime conversations between parents and their 2-year-old children in five cultural contexts. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001688 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Mendl, J., Banerjee, S., Fischer, R., Dreisbach, G.*, & Köster, M.* (2024) Control in Context: The Theta Rhythm Provides Evidence for Reactive Control but no Evidence for Proactive Control. Psychophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14625 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Bánki, A., Köster, M., Cichy, R. M., & Hoehl, S. (2024). Communicative signals during joint attention promote neural processes of infants and caregivers. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2023.10132 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Kärtner, J., & Köster, M. (2024) Early social-cognitive development as a dynamic developmental system—a lifeworld approach. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1399903 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Kopp, K.*, Kanngiesser, P.*, Brügger, R., Daum, M., Gampe, A., Köster, M., van Schaik, C., Liebal, K.*, Burkart, J.* (2024). The proximate regulation of prosocial behaviour: Towards a conceptual framework for comparative research. Animal Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01846-w (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2023

Köster, M., Bánki, A., Yamasaki, D., Kato, M., Itakura, S., & Hoehl, S. (2023). Cross-cultural differences in visual object and background processing in the infant brain. Imaging Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00038 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M.*, Brzozowska, A.*, Bánki, A., Tünte, M., Ward, E., & Hoehl, S. (2023). Rhythmic visual stimulation as a window into early brain development: a systematic review. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101315 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M.*, & Meyer, M.* (2023). Down and up! Does the mu rhythm index a gating mechanism in the developing motor system? Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101239 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Jurkat, S., Köster, M., Hernandez, L., Itakura, S., & Kärtner, J. (2023) Visual attention across cultures: Similarities and differences in child development and maternal attention styles. Developmental Science. doi.org/10.1111/desc.13368 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2022

Xie, S., Hoehl, S., Moeskops, M., Kayhan, E., Kliesch, C., Turtleton, B., Köster, M.* & Cichy, R. M.* (2022) Visual category representations in the infant brain. Current Biology. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.016 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., & Gruber, T. (2022). Rhythms of human attention and memory: An embedded process perspective. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.905837 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Giner Torréns, M., Kärtner, J., Itakura, S., Cavalcante L., & Kanngiesser, P. (2022). Parental teaching behavior in diverse cultural contexts. Evolution and Human Behavior. doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.07.002 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Bánki, A. A., Brzozowska, A., Hoehl, S., & Köster, M. (2022). Neural entrainment vs. stimulus-tracking: A conceptual challenge for rhythmic perceptual stimulation in developmental neuroscience. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878984 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2021

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Michel, C., & Höhl, S. (2021). Young infants process prediction errors at the theta rhythm. Neuroimage. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118074 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngiesser, P.*, & Höhl, S.* (2021). The value of subsequent memory paradigms in uncovering neural mechanisms of early social learning. Neuroimage. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117978 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2020

Köster, M., Kayhan, E., Langeloh, M., & Höhl, S. (2020) Making Sense of the World – Infant Learning from a Predictive Processing Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/1745691619895071 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Langeloh, M., Kliesch, C., Kanngiesser, P.*, & Höhl, S.* (2020). Motor cortex activity during action observation predicts subsequent action imitation in human infants. Neuroimage. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116958 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Goeke, C., Bonkoch-Goeke, E., Hoffmann, T., & Kaspar, K. (2020). Auditory information support the learning transfer from L2 to L3 tonal languages. Current Psychology.  doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9792-z (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Yovsi, R., & Kärtner, J. (in press). Cross-Cultural Differences in the Generation of Novel Ideas in Middle Childhood. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01829 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Mavridis, P., Kärtner, J., Cavalcante, L., Resende, B., Schuhmacher, N., & Köster, M. (in press) The Development of Context-sensitive Attention in Urban and Rural Brazil. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01623 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Jurkat, S., Köster, M., Yovsi, R., & Kärtner, J. (2020) The development of context-sensitive attention across cultures - the impact of stimulus familiarity. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01526 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Haun, D.*, Liebal, K.*, Amici, F., Bender, A., Bohn, M., Bräuer, J., Buttelmann, D., Burkart, J., Cacchione, T., Detroy, S., Faßbender, I., Fichtel, C., Fischer, J., Gampe, A., Gray, R., Horn, L., Ona, L., Kärtner, J., Kaminski, J., Kanngießer, P., Keller, H., Köster, M., Kopp, K., Kornadt, K., Rakoczy, H., Schuppli, C., Stengelin, R., Trommsdorff, G., Van Leeuwen, E., Van Schaik, C. (2020) Ein Plädoyer für die Relevanz der Vergleichenden Psychologie für das Verständnis menschlicher Entwicklung. Psychologische Rundschau. doi.org/10.1026/0033-3042/a000467 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2019

Köster, M.*, Langeloh, M.*, & Höhl, S. (2019) Visually entrained theta oscillations increase for unexpected events in the infant brain. Psychological Science.  doi.org/10.1177/0956797619876260 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Martens, U., & Gruber, T. (2019). Memory entrainment by visually evoked theta-gamma coupling. Neuroimage. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.002 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2019). Why do infants help? A simple action reveals a complex phenomenon. Developmental Review. doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.11.004 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Itakura, S., Omori, M., & Kärtner, J. (2019). From understanding others’ needs to prosocial action: Motor and social abilities promote infants’ helping. Developmental Science. doi.org/10.1111/desc.12804 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Dworazik, N., Kärtner, J., Lange, L., & Köster, M. (2019) Young children respond to moral dilemma like their mothers. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02683 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Schuhmacher, N., Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2019). Modeling prosocial behavior increases helping in 16-month-olds. Child Development. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13054 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2018

Köster, M.*, Finger, H.*, Graetz, S., Kater, M., & Gruber, T. (2018). Theta-gamma coupling binds visual perceptual features in an associative memory task. Scientific Reports. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35812-7 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., & Kärtner, J. (2018). Context-sensitive attention is socialized via a verbal route in the parent-child interaction. PLoS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207113 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Itakura, S., Yovsi, R., & Kärtner, J. (2018). Visual attention in 5-year-olds from three different cultures. PLoS ONE.  doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200239 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Fonseca, B., Cavalcante, L., Kärtner, J., & Köster, M. (2018). Maternal socialization goals and the spontaneous prosocial behavior of children in rural contexts. Psychology: Research and Review   doi.org/10.1186/s41155-018-0108-x (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Schöne, B., Köster, M., & Gruber, T. (2018). Coherence in general and personal semantic knowledge. Experimental Brain Research.  doi.org/10.1007/s00221-018-5324-1 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Kruger, D.J., Köster, M., Nedelec, J.L., & Murphy, S.F. (2018). A life history framework advances the understanding of intentions for police cooperation. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences.  doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000109 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2017

Köster, M., Castel, J., Gruber, T., & Kärtner, J. (2017). Visual cortical networks align with behavioral measures of context-sensitivity in early childhood. Neuroimage.  doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.08.008 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Haese, A., Czernochowski, D. (2017). Neuronal oscillations reveal the processes underlying intentional compared to incidental learning in children and young adults. PLoS ONE.  doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0182540 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Finger, H., Kater, M., Schenk, C., & Gruber, T. (2017). Neuronal oscillations indicate sleep-dependent changes in the cortical memory trace. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.  doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01071 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2016

Köster, M., Cavalcante, L., Carvalho, R., & Resende, B. D., Kärtner, J. (2016). Cultural Influences on Toddlers’ Prosocial Behavior: How Maternal Task Assignment Relates to Helping Others. Child Development.  doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12636 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M. (2016) What about microsaccades in the EEG of infants? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.  doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0739 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Ohmer, X., Nguyen, T. D., Kärtner, J. (2016) Infants understand others’ needs. Psychological Science.  doi.org/10.1177/0956797615627426 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2015

Köster, M., Schumacher, N., & Kärtner, J. (2015) A Cultural Perspective on Prosocial Development. Human Ethology Bulletin  link

Goeke, C., Gramann, K., Kornpetpanee, S., Köster, M., Revelles, F. & König, P. (2015). Cultural background shapes spatial reference frame proclivity. Scientific Reports.  doi.org/10.1038/srep11426 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Köster, M., Rüth, M., Hamborg, K.-C., Kaspar, K. (2015). Effects of personalized banner ads on visual attention and recognition memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology.  doi.org/10.1002/acp.3080 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

2014 & 2013

Köster, M.*, Friese, U.*, Schöne, B., Trujillo-Barreto, N., & Gruber , T. (2014). Theta-gamma coupling during episodic retrieval in the human EEG. Brain Research.  doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2014.06.028 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

Friese, U.*, Köster, M.*, Hassler, U., Martens, U., Barreto, N. T., & Gruber, T. (2013). Successful memory encoding is associated with increased cross-frequency coupling between frontal theta and posterior gamma oscillations in human scalp-recorded EEG. Neuroimage.  doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.002 (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)

* Joint first/last authors