EXC 3066:  The Adaptive Mind

• Subject Area: Psychology ; Neurosciences
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 533717223

The goal of The Adaptive Mind is to transform our scientific understanding of how humans adapt to changing conditions. Our results will not only answer one of the deepest questions in the sciences of the mind, but also open new avenues for individualised approaches to mental health, and the creation of robust, human-aligned artificial intelligence systems. Adaptability is possibly the most remarkable feature of the human mind. While computers can solve problems within well-specified domains, we have the amazing ability to continually adapt to a dynamic and uncertain world, solving challenges we’ve never faced before. As we grow and learn how the world works in childhood, solve complex everyday tasks, or face stresses in adulthood, adaptation is the key. It permeates every level of our perception, thought and behaviour, from basic sensory processes to long-term changes when practising advanced skills. Adaptation defines our successes, while its failures may hold the key to many aspects of psychopathology. We propose that human adaptive behaviour is based on a set of universal principles, which operate across diverse contexts and scales. Accordingly, we structure our research programme into five tightly interwoven Key Areas, focussing on distinct canonical computations of adaptation: Regulation, Causality, Categorisation, Prediction and Reciprocity. We also propose three cross-institution structures: a DataHub for open science, a TrainingHub for training, career development and exchange, and an OutreachHub for bidirectional knowledge transfer. Building on our core expertise in perception and action, The Adaptive Mind, combines state-of-the-art research approaches from the psychological and behavioural sciences with analysis and modelling tools from artificial intelligence to measure and model how the human mind continually adapts. We will investigate perception, thought and action in real and virtual worlds as participants perform complex natural tasks, flexibly adjusting their behaviours to task demands and context. We will map out how adaptation processes vary across individuals and the lifespan, from infancy, through adulthood into old age, and how maladaptation can impact mental health across the whole population. In turn, we will use our insights into the canonical computations of adaptation to endow machine learning and robotic systems with the robustness and agility of the human mind, addressing key challenges such as out-of-distribution generalisation and continual learning. The Adaptive Mind represents the culmination of a multi-decade collaboration between the applicant universities in mind, brain and behaviour research. The outcome will transform our understanding of adaptation and its wider ramifications for perception, thought and behaviour. Our insights will be instantiated as experimentally-verified computational models that mimic, predict, and explain both the spectacular successes and the tragic limits of the human mind.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Philipps-Universität Marburg; Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Participating Institution: Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS); Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Spokespersons: Professorin Dr. Katja Fiehler; Professor Roland William Fleming, Ph.D.
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Frank Bremmer; Professorin Georgia Chalvatzaki, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Katharina Dobs; Professorin Katja Doerschner-Boyaci, Ph.D.; Professor Dominik M. Endres, Ph.D.; Professor Karl Reiner Gegenfurtner, Ph.D.; Dr. Mareike Grotheer; Professor Benjamin de Haas, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Martin Hebart; Professor Dr. Stefan Hofmann; Professor Daniel Kaiser, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Kristian Kersting; Professor Dr. Tilo Kircher; Professor Jan Reinhard Peters, Ph.D.; Professor Winfried Rief, Ph.D.; Professor Stefan Roth, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Constantin Rothkopf; Professor Dr. Alexander Christian Schütz; Professorin Dr. Yee Lee Shing; Professor Dr. Jochen Triesch; Professorin Dr. Melissa Le-Hoa Vo; Professor Thomas Wallis, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Angela Yu