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Available Thesis Topics

If you are interested in writing your thesis with the AE Differential Psychology and Personality research, you will find current or future topic areas with additional information listed below. Should a listed topic area match with you research interests, please fill out the Formular zur Anfrage einer Betreuung and send it to the listed supervisor.

  • Which factors modulate brain-heart coupling?

    Communication between the brain and the heart (i.e., brain-heart coupling) is pivotal to adaptively cope with different environmental demands. However, aberrant brain-heart coupling was shown to be associated with pathological (especially with panic disorder) and trait anxiety. Thus, brain-heart coupling seems to be an important biological mechanism for anxiety in human.

    In this project we want to examine which factors modulate the strength of brain-heart coupling. Past studies demonstrated that the modulatory neurotransmitter Serotonin might influence the strength of brain-heart coupling. However, these studies employed only indirect manipulations of the serotonergic system (e.g., tryptophan depletion) or relayed on a quasi-experimental approach (e.g., gene-polymorphisms within the serotonergic system). We now want to directly influence the serotonergic system via a pharmacological manipulation, while assessing brain-heart coupling via an electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) in our lab. 

    Supervisor: Dr. Philipp Bierwirth

  • Do fear-conditioned expectations that cause benign stimuli to be perceived as aversive contribute to unsuccessful fear extinction? 

    Description of the project:

    Our previous research demonstrated that objectively benign stimuli can be perceived as aversive due to the influence of previously established fear-conditioned expectations of aversiveness. In our upcoming study, we aim to explore how this expectation-induced ‘aversification effect’ impacts other stages of fear conditioning. Specifically, we will investigate whether the perception of benign events as aversive, influenced by fear-conditioned expectations, contributes to unsuccessful fear extinction. Fear extinction is described as a process during which an organism learns that a conditioned stimulus previously associated with a threat is no longer predictive of threat.

    Additionally, in an exploratory manner, we intend to collect personality questionnaire data focusing on trait anxiety and neuroticism. Our study will explore whether the magnitude of the ‘aversification effect’ relates to individual differences in these personality traits. Furthermore, we aim to examine if these personality traits mediate the relationship between the ‘aversification effect’ and unsuccessful fear extinction.

    This project includes experimental work in the lab. Data collection will include behavioral and physiological measures, such as heart rate and skin conductance, along with personality questionnaires. The focus of the thesis can be adjusted based on the students’ interest within the scope of this project.


    For this project, 2 students can be recruited. The project is planned to begin around July 2024.

    Thesis language: English 

    Supervisor: Marian Boor