Moritz Bammel
Vita
I am a doctoral candidate in psychology with a background in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. My research interests focus on embodied cognition, ecological psychology, and the application of dynamical systems theory in psychology, including nonlinear methods. More generally, I am also interested in how experimental and philosophical questions are intertwined in psychology and cognitive science. In my dissertation project, I study reading comprehension as an embodied phenomenon in naturalistic contexts by using eye-tracking, motion capture, and EEG. Moreover, I use nonlinear methods (recurrence, fractals) to quantify reader-text coupling dynamics and to investigate how these are related to variability in reading comprehension.
Education
since 2024 Doctoral Candidate in Psychology, Leuphana University Lüneburg
2022 - 2024 M.A. Philosophy, Free University Berlin
MA Thesis: “An Ecological Approach to Cognitive Insitutions”
2020 - 2023 M.Sc. Mind and Brain - Track Brain, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt University Berlin
MSc Thesis: “Reading Comprehension as Embodied Action: A Nonlinear Analysis of Eye Movement Dynamics“
2016 - 2020 B.Sc. Cognitive Science, Osnabrück University
BSc Thesis: “Studying Neural Correlates of Mind Wandering with Mobile EEG”
Publications
Journal contributions
- Scaling-Up Behavior Settings: An Ecological Approach to Cognitive Institutions
Moritz Bammel (Author) , Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira (Author) , 01.05.2026 , in: Topoi, 45, 2 , p. 441-451 , 11 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Greene’s dual-process moral psychology and the modularity of mind
Moritz Bammel (Author) , 01.01.2026 , in: Philosophical Psychology, 39, 4 , p. 1279-1302 , 24 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- 43. Decoding Spontaneous Thoughts From Brain Resting-State fMRI: Toward Understanding Rumination
Ronald Dekker (Author) , Aaron T. Nakamura (Author) , Amanda M. Lins (Author) , Moritz Bammel (Author) , Quentin Huys (Author) , Nicolas W. Schuck (Author) , Ming Bo Cai (Author) , 01.05.2025 , in: Biological Psychiatry, 97, 9, Supplement , p. S112-S113 , 2 p.Research output: Journal contributions › Conference abstract in journal › Research
- Uncertainty Promotes Neuroreductionism: A Behavioral Online Study on Folk Psychological Causal Inference from Neuroimaging Data
Jona Carmon (Author) , Moritz Bammel (Author) , Peter Brugger (Author) , Bigna Lenggenhager (Author) , 01.11.2021 , in: Psychopathology, 54, 6 , p. 298-304Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
- Statistical Learning and Inference Is Impaired in the Nonclinical Continuum of Psychosis
Ilvana Dzafic (Author) , Roshini Randeniya (Author) , Clare D. Harris (Author) , Moritz Bammel (Author) , Marta I. Garrido (Author) , 26.08.2020 , in: The Journal of Neuroscience, 40, 35 , p. 6759–6769Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Contributions to collected editions/anthologies
- Language, Meaning, and the Foundations of Scientific Practice: Rethinking the Computer Metaphor of Mind and Brain
Sebastian Wallot (Author) , Moritz Bammel (Author) , 01.04.2026 , p. 296-310 , 15 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Chapter › Research › peer-review
- Reading Comprehension as Embodied Action: Exploratory Findings on Nonlinear Eye Movement Dynamics and Comprehension of Scientific Texts
Moritz Bammel (Author) , Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira (Author) , 01.01.2023 California , p. 2333-2340 , 8 p.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/anthologies › Article in conference proceedings › Research › peer-review
Courses
The ecological approach to perception, action, and cognition was pioneered by James and Eleanor Gibson in the second half of the 20th century and has established itself as an alternative to computational approaches in cognitive psychology and the cognitive sciences more broadly. The key assumption of the ecological approach is to take the organism-environment system as the relevant unit of analysis to study the continuity of perception, action, and cognition.
This seminar will introduce the theoretical foundations of ecological psychology, cover some of its research methods, and engage with seminal empirical papers. Students are expected to present one research article and to write a critical review on another article.
Please note that ecological psychology is different from environmental psychology. This course adopts an ecological lens on topics from cognitive / general psychology.
Textbooks:
- Blau, J. J. C., & Wagman, J. B. (2023). Introduction to Ecological Psychology. A Lawful Approach to Perceiving, Acting, and Cognizing. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003145691
- Nonaka, T., Segundo-Ortin, M., Romero, V., & Wagman, J. B. (Eds.). (2026). The Routledge International Handbook of Ecological Psychology. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003529453
- Segundo-Ortin, M., & Raja, V. (2024). Ecological Psychology. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009451413