The planned Human Cognition and Behavior (HuCaB) research building will create a state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary research infrastructure at the University of Göttingen for the study of human social cognition. The research center focuses on social interactions and the underlying brain activities.

The Vision

People are highly social creatures whose everyday life consists of continuous processing, integration and evaluation of social stimuli. The vision of HuCaB is to decipher the factors and neural bases that contribute to perception and decision-making processes in real interactions. Such a comprehensive description is of far-reaching relevance for the political and economic modeling of complex decisions, for the conception of effective intervention measures in crisis situations, for innovative therapeutic approaches in medicine and psychology, and for a modern human self-image. The scientists at HuCaB conceptually and methodically bring together approaches from psychology, cognitive science, psychiatry, neuroscience, mathematics, biology, physics, computer and data science.

New Methods

The centerpiece of the research building will be the various experimental platforms, which will allow examination of social interactions live under controlled yet realistic conditions. Existing prototypes will be further developed in the research center, transferred to daily laboratory operations, and supplemented with the necessary imaging procedures. In addition to the established EEG systems, the HuCaB will be equipped with a magnetoencephalograph (MEG). The research approaches place the highest demands on the IT infrastructure and a high-performance computer will allow the use of machine learning and complement the building equipment.

The Research building

The research building will be built on the site of Goßlerstrasse 14, directly connected to the Georg-Elias-Mueller Institute for Psychology. In addition to the research infrastructure, the new building includes office space for up to 7 departments, as well as training and meeting rooms. A total of 3,554 square meters of usable space will be available. The planning office agn Niederberghaus & Partner GmbH in Halle was hired for the architecture.

Spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Anne Schacht

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Faculty of Biology and Psychology Georg-Elias-Müller Institute of Psychology
Cognition, Emotion and Behavior
Goßlerstraße 14
37073 Göttingen


Management
Dr. Rebecca Jürgens (currently on maternity leave)
Dr. Rowan Titchener
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Georg-Elias-Müller Institute of Psychology
Cognition, Emotion and Behavior
Goßlerstraße 14
37073 Göttingen
hucab (at) uni-goettingen.de
+49 551 39 23611