Who I am

My name is Marvin and I am a scientist studying how we perceive and decide. I am fascinated by the ways our brains can be fooled - from visual illusions that make us see objects where they aren't, to cognitive biases that lead us to ignore evidence that contradicts our beliefs. These "systematic failures" aren't really failures at all, they're windows into how our brains work, revealing the clever shortcuts and trade-offs that make brains efficient. When you know where to look, these limitations tell us more about how our minds function than when everything works perfectly.

What I currently do

I am a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pennsylvania working on perceptual decisions and biases in decision making in Alan Stocker’s lab. My research is focused on confirmation bias, which is a cognitive bias where evidence that is inconsistent with current beliefs is discounted or ignored. Why would your brain not evolve to correct for that bias? What are the normative reasons to have confirmation bias?

What I used to do

I received my PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Dartmouth College, where I worked with Peter Tse and Patrick Cavanagh. During that time I mainly worked on visual perception and attention in humans. We published on tracking (overt and covert) and visual illusions, such as the double-drift illusion and the frame effect. In that time I also did some octopus research. I hope some of that will be published soon.

My background

Originally, I'm from Munich, Germany, where I grew up and got my Abitur. In my free time I enjoy trying the many great burgers in the US. For some reason, I also read weird blogs.

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