15 years of "Theory of Event Coding" - recent developments and future challenges

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Carina Giesen
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 370120973

The present research proposal for a scientific network focusses on the Theory of Event Coding (TEC; Hommel, Müsseler, Aschersleben, & Prinz, 2001), which provoked a major paradigm shift in the field of Cognitive Psychology with its publication 15 years ago. Central assumptions concern aspects of mental event coding and representation. In recent years, research findings from a variety of labs provided evidence that is consistent with TEC's core assumptions (like the common coding principle or the idea of distal, feature-based event representation in terms of "event files" or stimulus-response [S-R] bindings). As of late, influential ideas like S-R binding and retrieval processes are becoming more and more popular for research on related topics like cognitive control, associative learning, and social-cognitive phenomena (like action co-representation in socially shared tasks or imitation). Many of these recent findings are consistent with TEC; some, however, bear the potential to broaden its sphere of influence or sharpen its borders. Within the planned network, we aim for an in-depth analysis of these recent developments and the extent to which they impose the need for further specifications and modifications of the TEC, which will be developed in the network. In particular, the network will address (a) which recent developments from four research fields (i.e., perception and action planning; cognitive control; associative learning; and social context) are significant for the TEC; (b) which implications follow from these recent insights and how they relate to TEC's merit as a central framework for the understanding of human perception, action regulation, and cognition in general; and (c) how these new findings can be reconciled with TEC (e.g., in an updated, modified version). The results of our initiative will be presented to the scientific community (by means of a special issue and in a conference symposium) as well as to the general public (i.e., via a popular science article). Furthermore, the network aims to intensify the scientific exchange between its members, which paves the ground for future collaborative research endeavors.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Birte Moeller