Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics

Learning, perception and cognitive processes form the main research fields of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen. The scientists use experimental, theoretical and methodological approaches in their work on fundamental topics of perception. In 2003, a High-Field Magnetic Resonance Center was established at the Institute where research is carried out into the methodological expansion and application of imaging techniques. Two of the world's most powerful magnetic resonance scanners with magnetic field strengths of 9.4 and 16.4 tesla are available to assist them in their work.

Contact

Max-Planck-Ring 8
72076 Tübingen
Phone: +49 7071 601-510
Fax: +49 7071 601-520
www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de

PhD opportunities

This institute has an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS):
IMPRS for Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience

In addition, there is the possibility of individual doctoral research. Please contact the directors or research group leaders at the Institute.

Heinrich H. Bülthoff
Heinrich H. Bülthoff
Department Human Perception, Cognition and Action
+49 7071 601-601
more
Nikos K. Logothetis
Nikos K. Logothetis
Department Neurophysiology of Cognitive Processes
+49 7071 601-651
more
Statement of the Max Planck Society

Statement of the Max Planck Society

February 20, 2018
The public prosecutor Tübingen has today announced that penalty orders charges were brought against three employees of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. The district court of Tübingen has confirmed that penalty orders were issued. Prof. Logothetis has advised the Max Planck Society that he has appealed the penalty order issued against him. more
Orientation without a master plan

Orientation without a master plan

September 06, 2016
Cognitive Research
Human spatial memory is made up of numerous individual maps more
“The cable robot opens up a whole new dimension”

“The cable robot opens up a whole new dimension”

May 23, 2016

Max Planck director Heinrich Bülthoff on perception research with motion simulators more
Action recognition without mirror neurons

Action recognition without mirror neurons

April 28, 2016
Role of mirror neurons in social interaction not as important as previously assumed more
Optogenetics reveals new insights into circuits of the brain

Optogenetics reveals new insights into circuits of the brain

April 20, 2016
Researchers show how neural wiring works in the visual system more

Inside the Fly's Onboard Computer

1/2014 Flashback
The brain of a housefly weighs around one-thousandth of a gram. Nonetheless, thanks to this miniscule control center, the insect can evaluate images in fractions of a second and steer its way through lightning-fast flight maneuvers. It was Werner Reichardt, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, who, more than 50 years ago, described how the motion detectors in the fly brain work.

Spying on God

MaxPlanckResearch 3/2012 Flashback
For Valentin Braitenberg, the brain was the most interesting research subject in the world, apart from the world itself. A former Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, he spent thousands of hours poring over a microscope to get to the bottom of this most complex of organs. His purpose was to examine the fiber pathways in various areas of the brain and to search for their functions.

Memorizing a Set of Maps

MPR 4 /2010

Robots That Learn!

MPR 2 /2010 Material & Technology
Machines are naturally dumb. They lack flexibility and the ability to react appropriately and at the right time. Scientists are trying to teach robots something akin to intelligence.

New Paths through the Virtual World

MPR 2 /2008 Culture & Society
Cybernetics experts are using the world’s first omnidirectional platform to study how the brains of walkers combine hearing, seeing and feeling.
Postdoctoral Position
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen April 17, 2018

Holistic perception of faces and objects

2018 Bülthoff, Isabelle ; Zhao, Mintao; Bülthoff, Heinrich
Cognitive Science Neurosciences
We cannot process any individual feature in a face without the other parts of the face influencing our perception. So far, this so-called holistic perception had been demonstrated mostly with static faces (images) or with objects that we know very well. However, the Max-Planck scientists have shown that dynamic faces and unknown objects (displaying specific properties) are also perceived holistically. Their results pose a challenge to current dominant theories about holistic processing. more

Map brain function in vessels with a multi-modal fMRI platform

2017 Yu, Xin
Cognitive Science Neurosciences
A multi-modal fMRI platform is developed for a better understanding of the neuron-glio-vascular interaction in normal and diseased brain states of animals. Combining the single-vessel fMRI method with optogenetics and genetically encoded calcium indicators enables to identify the specific contributions of distinct vascular and cellular components to the fMRI signal. The translational application of this work is to identify vessel-specific dynamic biomarkers of patients with vascular dementia, ranging from small vessel diseases to degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. more

Understanding brain function by bridging multiple scales

2016 Besserve, Michel; Logothetis Nikos K.
Cognitive Science Neurosciences
Information processing in mammalian brains requires exceptional coordination of neural activity ranging from local groups of cells to brain wide interactions. To bridge these scales and understand brain function at the system level, we investigate the relationship between action potentials, local field potentials, and blood oxygen level dependent activity in various structures. The development of simultaneous recordings methodologies and data analysis techniques enables us to characterize the brain states associated to memory functions. more

Can you tell me how to reach my goal? Social and spatial cognition in interaction

2015 de la Rosa, Stephan; Meilinger, Tobias
Cognitive Science Neurosciences
In everyday life knowledge about space and the social behavior of others interact, for example, when asking someone for route directions. Prior research mainly considered these processes as separate from each other. Tobias Meilinger and Stephan de la Rosa together with their research group from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics examine social and spatial cognition and their interactions in order to better understand everyday human behavior. more

Magnetic resonance imaging at ultra-high fields

2014 Buckenmaier, Kai; Gunamony, Shajan; Chadzynski, Grzegorz; Hoffmann, Jens; Pohmann, Rolf; Scheffler, Klaus
Cognitive Science Neurosciences
To improve the spatial resolution and the speed for generating images in magnetic resonance examinations, there is a strong trend to go to higher magnetic field strengths in order to improve the detected signal, causing new technological challenges to emerge. An example is the development of new radiofrequency coil designs. First novel coils are already being used for clinical studies on cancer in the human brain at 9.4 Tesla. Magnetic resonance spectra were obtained from healthy and cancerous regions in the brain. The comparison of the spectra show great potential for medical diagnostics. more
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