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Public Relations of the Department of General Psychology

	The brain creates 3D images using line patterns made up of shades 23.07.2025 Publication by Roland W. Fleming in PNAS Shading brings 3D shapes to life by highlighting the shape of objects around us. Although shading is so important to our perception, scientists have long puzzled over how the human brain uses it. Research now shows that our brain creates 3D images with the help of line patterns from shading. "Our brain is looking for lines", explains JLU perception researcher Prof. Roland W. Fleming. The article was reported in Gießener Anzeiger. You can find the scientific publication at PNAS here.
	Straße der Experimente 2025 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 25.05.2025 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2025 Am On May 25, the ‘Street of Experiments’ took place at the THM in Wiesenstraße. The Street of Experiments is a science event at which various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Looking at faces shapes our view of objects 23.03.2025 Publication by Benjamin de Haas and Maximilian Broda at PNAS An article by the public broadcaster MDR refers to research by Benjamin de Haas and Maximilian Broda on "The language of our eyes". In their research, they looked at faces on the one hand and rigid objects such as neon signs or beverage cans on the other. The subsequent analysis of 1.8 million eye movements revealed a surprising correlation: people who looked into the eyes of faces also focused on higher areas of objects. People who looked at the mouths of faces also looked at the lower areas of objects first. You can find the scientific publication at PNAS here.
	Why do we see faces everywhere? 07.03.2025 Publication by Katharina Dobs at PLoS Computational Biology We see faces everywhere in everyday life, even where there aren't any, for example in the foam of coffee, on tree trunks or in the clouds. Why we humans have the ability to recognise eyes, mouths and sometimes even noses in a wide variety of objects has not yet been clarified. Katharina Dobs suspects that this sensory illusion, known as face pareidolia, is based on the fact that our brain has perfected two skills at the same time: recognising faces on the one hand and classifying objects on the other. The article was reported in several media outlets, for expamle scinexx.de and idw. You can find the scientific publication at PLoS Computational Biology here.
	Perceptual illusion in the supermarket 05.08.2024 Publication by Karl Gegenfurtner at i-Perception In a short article in the magazine ‘i-Perception’, Karl Gegenfurtner was able to prove that there is a solid scientific basis for what has long since become common knowledge in the fruit and vegetable trade: Fruit sells better when it is in a net that carries the colour of perfect specimens of its variety. This is based on a perceptual illusion known as colour assimilation or confetti illusion: objects appear to take on the colour of a pattern placed over them. The article was reported in several media outlets, including Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Geo, Forschung und Wissen, and Scientific American. You can find the scientific publication at ‘i-Perception’ here. You can find the full article under this link.
	Straße der Experimente 2024 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 02.06.24 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2024 On June 2, the “Street of Experiments” took place for the first time at THM in Wiesenstraße. The Street of Experiments is a science event where various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Straße der Experimente 2023 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 04.06.23 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2023 On 4 June, the ‘Street of Experiments’ took place in front of the main university building. The Street of Experiments is a science event where various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Recognising the mood by the tip of the nose 20.03.23 Publication by Maximilian Broda and Benjamin de Haas at i-Perception How do we recognise whether others are feeling good or bad, excited or relaxed? Why do some people immediately appear trustworthy, others dominant or attractive? Researchers have been studying the question of how people process faces and arrive at such judgements for decades. The focus has traditionally been on the eye and mouth region, which have proven to be particularly important for such perceptual impressions. But surprisingly, this is not the only focus: in a recent study published in the journal ‘iPerception’, researchers from Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) show that the nasal region also allows us to make judgements about our state of mind. Link: Press release Link: FAZ You can find the full article under this link
	The brain can't do physics! - Why is it still often right when it comes to estimating speed? 29.03.22 Publication by Alexander Göttker at In-Mind Our eyes move more often than our heart beats. This means that the environment is also constantly moving across our retina. Nevertheless, we perceive our environment in a stable way because our perception is actively constructed by the brain. How does the brain do this? Targeted laboratory experiments can reveal systematic errors in the interplay between eye movements and perception, which help us to better understand how the brain works to construct our perception of the environment from physical stimuli. You can read more under this link
	Talk at Centre for Vision Research, York, Canada 06.10.21 Erez Freud kindly invited Ben to present our work at the Centre for Vision Research at York University in Canada. You can find the lecture here on YouTube.
	Big data and the brain: How we learn to see ‘things’ using many examples 25.05.21 Roland W. Fleming gave a public lecture as part of the VSS Public Lecture on Big Data and the Brain. In this talk, vision scientist Roland Fleming will discuss some of the challenges that objects and materials pose to the visual system, and describe some of the amazing progress researchers have recently made in using deep learning to build artificial visual systems that can see like humans. More information about the lecture and the VSS Public Lecture can be found here.
	Christoph Witzel on ‘Princess of Science’ on KiKA 18.07.20 On 18.07.2020 at 20:10 Christoph Witzel appears as a colour expert in the programme ‘Princess of Science’ on german tv channel KiKA. The three scientists Johanna Baehr, Patrizia Elinor Thoma and Linh Nguyen show how much maths, computer science, natural sciences and technology (STEM) there is in the everyday lives of children and young people - ‘Princess of Science’ takes science out of the lab and into real life to awaken your curiosity about STEM subjects. Christoph Witzel appears as a colour expert in the 6th episode: Colours, Perception. Link to the programm (german)
	Mystery of the veiled virgin. 18.05.20 Study by perceptual psychologists from Giessen and Rochester examines well-known sculpture Link: Press release You can find the publication under this link.
	Straße der Experimente 2019 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 26.05.19 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2019 On 4 June, the ‘Street of Experiments’ took place in front of the main university building. The Street of Experiments is a science event where various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Individual differences in visual salience vary along semantic dimensions 29.05.19 The paper ‘Individual differences in visual salience vary along semantic dimensions’, published in June 2019 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, generated a great deal of media interest. The paper deals with the different ways in which people perceive images. Benjamin de Haas says: "For example, some people tend to look at faces in pictures much more than other people. And some people look at text more often than others, for example - or at food." Press release: Informationsdienst Wissenschaft Inside Science-Reliable news for an expending universe abc NEWS MDR Wissen PNAS Podcast You can find the publication under this link.
	The power of colours 31.12.19 General psychology on german hr television: All knowledge - The power of colours. It is said that red is the colour of love, yellow stands for joie de vivre and blue shimmers as cold as ice. Are these just random attributions, or do colours really have a certain influence? After all, experiments show that they can change mood and even physical reactions. People dressed in red, for example, are seen as more attractive, and the packaging of diet products is often light blue because it is perceived as light and transparent. It is not only the advertising industry that utilises such findings. ‘All Knowledge’ shows the hidden power of colours.
	Boys' Day in sports science and general psychology 28.03.19 Boys' Day in general psychology. Program
	Girls' Day in sports science and general psychology 28.03.19 Girls' Day in general psychology. Program
	Panel discussion: #TheDress – What do we know? 06.11.18 Manuel Spitschan, Anya Hurlbert, Karl Gegenfurtner, David Brainard In early 2015, an image of a dress polarised the internet: Some people saw it as black-blue, and some as white-gold. Three years on, we revisit the dress and discuss how vision science can explain this phenomenon.
	Article in german newspaper "Die Zeit": We have to get out of here! 01.09.18 Karl Gegenfurtner, Christoph Witzel Article in german newspaper "Die Zeit": We have to get out of here! September/October 2018 issue no. 5
	Is this ham Donald Trump? 26.07.18 Article in german newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung": "Ist dieser Schinken Donald Trump?" You can find the full article under this link.
	Straße der Experimente 2028 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 03.06.18 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2018 On 4 June, the ‘Street of Experiments’ took place in front of the main university building. The Street of Experiments is a science event where various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Lecture as part of the lecture series ‘The appeal of the senses’ by Prof Dr Alexander C. Schütz 03.04.18 Prof Dr Alexander C. Schütz gave a lecture on ‘Seeing in the moment - How eye movements determine what we can see’ as part of the lecture series ‘The appeal of the senses’ in Nuremberg. Link
	The world is colourful - but is my blue also your blue? 18.08.18 SFB in german tv channel ARD: [w] wie Wissen: Red, green, blue - do all people see colours in the same way? Were all dinosaurs grey, and how can we know what colours they were? In animals, pigment is formed in specialised cells in tiny compartments called melanosomes. And these structures are surprisingly well preserved in some fossils with skin remains. Today they can be recognised as millions of elongated structures under an electron microscope. Each colour has its own melanosome identifier - so we now know where a dinosaur wore which colour. The long-extinct lizards are getting their colour back! But today's animal world is also full of surprises: Chameleons wear camouflage colours, usually with a green or brown pattern. Only recently, scientists in Munich discovered that most species also have fluorescent patterns. They live in shady, tropical forests where the proportion of ultraviolet light is relatively high. This is precisely what the animals use fluorescence to communicate with conspecifics and remain invisible to potential enemies. Colourful patterns on the skin - this also seems to appeal to many people. One in four Germans now has a tattoo, ranging from fine patterns to colourful, photorealistic paintings. And although the tattoo scene is flourishing like never before, doctors have not yet been able to explain why the colours injected into the skin last a lifetime. After all, the skin is an organ that is constantly renewing itself. But now a team of researchers in France has solved the mystery.
	Boys' Day in general psychology 26.04.18 Boys' Day in general psychology. Program
	Girls' Day general psychology 26.04.18 Girls' Day in general psychology. Program
	Interview on the ‘Laurel and Yanni phenomenon’ at german radio Antenne Bayern 17.05.18 Article on the ‘Laurel and Yanni phenomenon’ on Antenne Bayern, about which Christoph Witzel was also interviewed. Link
	Lecture at primary school in Greece 03.11.2017 Dimitris Voudouris, Gießen and Hanna Gertz: "How do you feel the world?" On the 3rd of November 2017, Dimitris Voudouris and Hanna Gertz gave a talk to the 20 students of the primary school in Axos, Crete, Greece. Students, between 6 and 11 years old, learned how our senses work by playing games and explaining illusions, and they found out how the brain lets them learn new skills. Link
	Article on colour perception in Profil magazine ‘We also see grey Smurfs as blue’ 09.10.17 Christoph Witzel, an expert in colour perception, on the power of blue and red, pink prison cells and the question of whether reality is really colourful. Link
	Article about colour perception in swiss nespaper Neue Züricher Zeitung 27.08.17 ‘The power of colour - red has the strongest effect’ Christoph Witzel explains how the brain perceives colour, why red clothes are attractive and why pink prison cells are pointless. Link
	Article about perceptual illusion 03.08.17 Article on misperception on welt.de ‘A bus full of burka-clad women would evoke a similar image’ Link
	Perceptual psychology in practice 15.06.16 Intersections of theory and practice in the psychology of perception The guests on 15 June 2016 were Esther Kleinert (DB Systel), Ole Kleinert (d.lab) and Melanie Jotz (eResult), in conversation with students and researchers. Perception mechanisms are not only important for basic research but are also attracting more and more attention in practice. One example of this is the fields of user experience (UX) and ergonomics. In a workshop with experts from the UX field (DB Systel, d.lab, eResult) and 3 researchers as well as some interested students, intersections were presented and discussed. The aim of the workshop was both to strengthen the relevance of basic research in applied areas and to understand the current requirements in practice.
	Asked: What are you currently researching, Mrs Fiehler? 01.11.16 Press article in Gehirn&Geist No. 1, 2016
	Exploring the brain 29.11.16 Article in GAZ
	Christian Wolf on german radio WDR 5: "Kluge Nacht" 04.04.16 Science Slam ‘The gravity of poetry’ Link
	Presentation of the ageing study Project B5 at the senior citizens' lecture 05.10.16 Sabine Margolf The Department of Medicine at JLU regularly organises lectures for senior citizens in which information is provided on current research findings from the life sciences. The SFB's ageing study has been presented several times in this context, arousing broad interest in our work and attracting motivated participants.
	Straße der Experimente 2015 (Street of Experiments) in Giessen 03.06.15 Straße der Experimente (Street of Experiments) 2015 On 4 June, the ‘Street of Experiments’ took place in front of the main university building. The Street of Experiments is a science event where various experiment stations and experiments are offered. The SFB and the Department of Psychology at the University of Giessen were on site with the colour perception research team. This gave visitors an insight into science and research in an accessible and entertaining way.
	Science Slam Potsdam 13.02.15 Christian Wolf was the winner of the Science Slam in Postdam with ‘The gravity of poetry’ Link
	Science Slam Berlin 05.01.15 Christian Wolf at Science Slam Berlin with ‘The gravity of poetry’ Link
	The black-blue-gold confusion 27.02.15 ‘A dress divides the world: the great black-blue-gold confusion’ - Press article, Interview at german radio Bayern 2 Link
	Interview with german radio "Kulturradio RBB" 23.03.15 Knowledge: How do we see colours? Colours are so commonplace for us that hardly anyone thinks about how colour vision actually works. Does everyone see colours in the same way? Or are there subjective differences in the perception of colours? Karl Gegenfurtner, Professor of Psychology at Justus Liebig University Giessen, answers these questions.
	The Science Behind The Shoe 10.07.15 Article Inside Science Link
	Brain Fair Zuerich 21.03.15 The process of seeing Our visual system is often compared to a camera. Although this comparison is quite apt, it only applies to the very first stage of processing in the optical apparatus of the eye. The actual process of seeing only begins afterwards. From the images in the eye, our brain must determine the causes for this in a three-dimensional world. The lecture provides an overview of the strategies used in this process. Numerous examples are used to explain why we cannot see some things at all, why some things get lost between the eye and the brain and why we sometimes see the wrong thing, but usually the right thing.
	Understanding perception 01.01.14 Article in Forum Forschung Link
	VPresentation of the ageing study Project B5 at the senior citizens' lecture 01.10.14 Sabine Margolf The JLU's Department of Medicine regularly organises lectures for senior citizens in which information is provided on current research findings from the life sciences. The SFB's ageing study was presented several times in this context, so that broad interest in our work could be aroused and motivated participants could also be recruited.
	German broadcaster "Hessischer Rundfunk visited the age study laboratory 28.07.14 Radio programme Hessischer Rundfunk visited the age study laboratory and produced a radio feature on the central research questions. The feature was broadcast several times by various local radio stations in summer 2014 and contacts were established with interested laypeople and experts.