Welcome to SFB 1528 - Cognition of Interaction
New YouTube video featuring Claudia Fichtel, Elif Karakoc, Julia Fischer and Alex Gail
The fourth and last episode of the YouTube series by the Leibniz ScienceCampus features four SFB members and highlights how field research and laboratory neuroscience inspire each other in exploring the mechanisms of social interaction. Claudia Fichtel, Elif Karakoc and Julia Fischer present innovative field experiments that reveal how new skills spread within primate groups and reshape social hierarchies. Alexander Gail brings these insights back into the laboratory with the Exploration Room, a novel setup to study the neural basis of decision-making under naturalistic conditions.
To Göttingen Cognition and Behavior Research YouTube channel
Honorary Doctorate for Peter Kappeler
We warmly congratulate our colleague Peter Kappeler on being awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Antananarivo. This distinction acknowledges not only his outstanding scientific contributions to primatology – documented in numerous books and more than 350 scientific articles – but also his long-standing commitment to Madagascar. Beyond his academic achievements, Peter Kappeler has played a crucial role in supporting and mentoring the next generation of researchers. Over the past decades, he has supervised dozens of Malagasy Master’s and PhD students, thereby making a lasting contribution to strengthening local research capacity and advancing biodiversity studies in Madagascar. We are proud to celebrate this recognition of his achievements and his dedication to international scientific collaboration.
The Dyadic Interaction Platform
Episode 3 of the video series on the Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition is now available. The film introduces our Dyadic Interaction Platform (DIP), which is also a key element for the SFB. This novel setup allows two individuals to interact face-to-face at a transparent monitor. This design enables researchers to study cooperation, competition, language learning, and emotion regulation in real time while maintaining experimental control. In the video, SFB member Igor Kagan (German Primate Center) explains the basic idea of the platform and its use in studying cooperation in humans and rhesus monkeys. Nivedita Mani, also a PI of the SFB shows how it can be used to investigate curiosity and word learning in children, and our vice-speaker Anne Schacht demonstrates its application in research on emotion regulation.
You can find the video on our shared YouTube Channel Göttingen Cognition and Behavior Research
Göttingen Cognition Forum: Curiosity and Interaction
We are excited to host the first Göttingen Cognition Forum in Göttingen, Germany, on October 13–15, 2025. Together with our colleagues from the RTG 2906, the Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Interaction, the Campus Insitute Data Science and the Human Cognition and Behavior Center, we are looking forward to welcoming researchers from around the world to discuss how social interactions and interaction with the environment shape cognition in humans and non-human animals. The Forum brings together diverse perspectives from neuroscience, psychology, behavioral biology, computational sciences, and related fields to foster interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration. The detailed scientific program, submission guidelines, and registration information can be found on the conference website We look forward to seeing many of you in Göttingen!
Prof. Alexander Gail
Sensorimotor Neuroscience & Neuroprosthetics
University of Göttingen & German Primate Center Göttingen
Kellnerweg 4,
37077 Göttingen
Tel.: +49-551-3851-358 ContactDr. Christian Schloegl
Kellnerweg 4,
37077 Göttingen
Tel.: +49-551-3851-480
Contact