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GRK 1457:  Adaptive Minds: Neurale und umgebungsbedingte Rahmenbedingungen des Lernens und des Gedächtnisses

Fachliche Zuordnung Psychologie
Förderung Förderung von 2008 bis 2017
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 42922499
 
Erstellungsjahr 2017

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

The international research training group “Adaptive Minds: Neural different and Environmental Constraints on Learning and Memory” has been established by German and Chinese scientists at the Department of Psychology at Saarland University and at the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The major goal was to establish a productive international scientific cooperation to support young scientists motivated to conduct cutting-edge research. The research programme comprised projects that explored the adaptation and cultural variance of learning and memory processes and their neural underpinnings. By adapting a cross-cultural perspective, we intended to broaden the range of environmental factors and to enhance the synergy from the research teams on both sides. The research projects were complemented by a study programme which conveyed theoretical background and methodological skills in neurocognitive research. The study programme was effectively complemented by courses for key transdisciplinary scientific skills offered by the Graduate Center of Saarland University (GradUS). Over a period of nine years doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from both sides have provided new insights in how cultural values and practices shape learning and memory, which aspects of learning and memory are culturally invariant and which are modulated by cultural factors and age-specific levels of plasticity. Advanced brain imaging (fMRI), EEG/ERP and eye-tracking methodologies have been applied in combination with behavioural methods to explore the neural underpinnings of learning and memory processes and their modulation by environmental factors. During the ten-year period we also broadened the scope of the research programme by developing paradigms that allow to explore the boundary conditions for plasticity in different populations and to study new intervention techniques such as neurofeedback, cognitive control training, or mnemonic trainings tied to the demands of different age groups. Starting in April 2008 the IRTG provided in sum 44 scholarships or positions for doctoral researchers and 11 postdoctoral positions. There were 11 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers on the Chinese side. Almost all German doctoral students spent several months at IP-CAS. These international mobility periods were highly appreciated as an important asset of structured doctoral training in an international context. Highly qualified researchers from all over the world joined the programme and participated in obligatory events of the study programme including lab meetings, reporting colloquia and Sino-German fall schools and discussed their work with international visiting researchers and collaborators. Since 2009 149 articles were published, most of them in journals with high impact factor. In addition 11 books and book chapters saw the light of earth during the funding period. Two thirds of the articles had doctoral students as first authors. The total number of successful dissertations amounts to 31 and 28 of them received a magna cum laude or a summa cum laude grade. Two doctoral students (from the first funding period) were honoured with prices for their research project and one publication first authored by one of the doctoral students was ranked among the top five cited articles in Neuropsychologia. For personal reasons, four stipend holders quitted the programme prematurely. Two moved shortly after their beginning to other universities to get a doctoral degree there. Taken together we are looking back on 9 years of successful international cooperation in research and education. As verified by the number of publications and successful dissertations we set up a programme that enabled cutting edge neuroscientific research with high international visibility and permitted new and promising scientific careers for ambitious doctoral researchers from both countries.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

Zusatzinformationen

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