Moritz Bammel

21335 Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, C11.007
Fon +49.4131.677-2150, moritz.bammel@leuphana.de
Wiss. Mitarbeiter*in, Professorship of Psychology, in particular Methodology and Evaluation Research

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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

  1. Scaling-Up Behavior Settings: An Ecological Approach to Cognitive Institutions
    Moritz Bammel (Author) , Guilherme Sanches de Oliveira (Author) , 22.08.2025 , in: Topoi

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  2. 43. Decoding Spontaneous Thoughts From Brain Resting-State fMRI: Toward Understanding Rumination
    Moritz Bammel (Author) , Ronald Dekker (Author) , Aaron T. Nakamura (Author) , Amanda M. Lins (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

  3. Greene’s dual-process moral psychology and the modularity of mind
    Moritz Bammel (Author) , 20.12.2024 , in: Philosophical Psychology , 24 p.

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  4. Uncertainty Promotes Neuroreductionism: A Behavioral Online Study on Folk Psychological Causal Inference from Neuroimaging Data
    Moritz Bammel (Author) , Jona Carmon (Author) , Peter Brugger (Author) , Bigna Lenggenhager (Author) , 01.11.2021 , in: Psychopathology, 54, 6 , p. 298-304

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

  5. Statistical Learning and Inference Is Impaired in the Nonclinical Continuum of Psychosis
    Moritz Bammel (Author) , Ilvana Dzafic (Author) , Roshini Randeniya (Author) , Clare D. Harris (Author) , Marta I. Garrido (Author) , 26.08.2020 , in: The Journal of Neuroscience, 40, 35 , p. 6759–6769

    Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

View all publications

Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

  1. 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

View all publications

Courses

A Dynamical Systems Approach to Psychology
Moritz Bammel
⌄
Experimental psychology tends to approach mind and behavior from a rather static perspective: We ask participants to fill out a questionnaire once and correlate the resulting score to another variable. Similarly, the biological basis of human behavior and psychological experience are often explained by reference to static assignments of specific functional profiles to circumscribed brain areas. In this course, however, we will explore how insights from dynamical systems theory can inform both theorizing and experimental research in psychology. The guiding idea is to use appropriate metaphors and data analysis tools to study how mind and behavior dynamically unfold over time, enabled by flexibly forming and dissolving assemblies of neural, bodily, and environmental structures that change over time and depending on context.

In the first part of the course, we will read and critically discuss theoretical papers that introduce us to dynamical systems theory and how this approach challenges common assumptions in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. The aim of the first part of the course is to reflect on the controversies that motivate a dynamical systems approach to psychology.

In the second part of the course, we will adopt the perspective of an experimental psychologist who has developed some sympathy for dynamical systems thinking and who would like to align her research with this paradigm. One of the key implications is that dynamically inclined experimental psychologists like to use time series analysis methods that can handle data originating from an interdependent dynamical system. Students will form working groups, and each group will be tasked to work through materials covering one data analysis technique (e.g. recurrence or fractal analysis) and to perform a small sample analysis in R. At the end of the term, each group will present their results in class.

This course is targeted at students who are interested in conceptual debates in psychology and their practical implications for empirical research. From a methodological perspective, the course will combine close readings and conceptual discussions with the acquisition of new data analysis skills.
Next appointment:
Wednesday, 2026-04-22 at 10:15
Room: C 16.222 Seminarraum