Prof. Dr. Uta Lass

In her research Uta Lass has dealt with questions concerning the structure and usage of knowledge regarding very different cognitive requirements. Her research interests range from the memorizing of simple visual stimuli to the processing of complex problems.

One focus was on how a problem solver constructs a mental model from his or her task situation, another on how abstract stimuli are processed in our memory so that subsequent operations, which require detailed knowledge of the abstract stimuli’s structural features, are completed successfully.

Currently, her research interests focus on the field of cross-cultural issues. In cooperation with a Chinese colleague, Uta Lass is concerned with the question in how far features of speech and writing can have an influence on our cognitive functions such as our memory. A surprising result is “that Chinese, in comparison to German, seems to be a better software for the working memory”.