Translational Neuroimaging Marburg

We suggest that several major mental disorders can be understood as maladaptation of mechanisms controlling stability and transition. Understanding the transitions between episodes and the processes that cause healthy or disordered states to persist is the key to explaining and diagnosing such disorders.

Inferring Causality is crucial for identifying what we need to adapt to and how, by correctly attributing the origin of signals and intervening actively to probe internal causal models. The ability to consider counterfactuals is a core feature of intelligent thought, while erroneous causal inference may underlie many maladaptations of the mind.

Prediction allows us to adapt in an active, rather than purely reactive way by anticipating the future states of the world, and the consequences of our own actions. Prediction errors can also be used to continually hone our internal models. Yet predictions must also be combined with goals and desires to explain the full range of human behaviour.

The adaptive Mind

The human mind is perhaps the greatest mystery in science. Our goal is to explain the full richness of natural adaptive behaviour. Our perceptions, thoughts, feelings and action. Not just in the lab, but in everyday life.

In The Adaptive Mind, we measure and model how people see, think and act adaptively in open-ended conditions, and study the consequences for mental health when adaptive processes fail. This will not only transform our scientific understanding of how the mind works, but also help develop safe, robust and human-aligned AI and robotics systems.

The TNM Lab is specifically involved in

People

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Straube (PI)

Dr. Yifei He (staff)

Lennart Müller (staff)

Christina Schmitter (associate)

Lydia Riedl (associate)

Dr. Yunbo Yang (alumni)

Dr. Adrian Wroblewski (alumni)

TAM related publications

Schmitter, C. V., & Straube, B. (2026). Altered neural processing in middle frontal gyrus and cerebellum during temporal recalibration of action-outcome predictions in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Schizophrenia 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-025-00721-y

Eckert, A.-L., Fuehrer, E., Schmitter, C.V., Straube, B., Fiehler, K., Endres, D. (2025). Modelling sensory attenuation as Bayesian causal inference across two datasets. PLoS One 20, e0317924. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0317924

Hermann, A., Benke, C., Blecker, C.R., de Haas, B., He, Y., Hofmann, S.G., Iffland, J.R., Jengert-Stahl, J., Kircher, T., Leinweber, K., Linka, M., Mulert, C., Neudert, M.K., Noll, A.-K., Melzig, C.A., Rief, W., Rothkopf, C., Schäfer, A., Schmitter, C.V., Schuster, V., Stark, R., Straube, B., Zimmer, R.I., Kirchner, L. (2024). Study protocol TransTAM: Transdiagnostic research into emotional disorders and cognitive-behavioral therapy of the adaptive mind. BMC Psychiatry 2024 241 24, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12888-024-06108-0

Kirchner, L., Kube, T., Berg, M., Eckert, A.-L., Straube, B., Endres, D., Rief, W. (2024). Social expectations in depression. Nat. Rev. Psychol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00386-x

Ridderbusch, I. C., Wroblewski, A., Yang, Y., Richter, J., Hollandt, M., Hamm, A. O., … Kircher, T. … Straube, B. (2021). Neural adaptation of cingulate and insular activity during delayed fear extinction: A replicable pattern across assessment sites and repeated measurements. NeuroImage, 118157. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118157

Streiling, K., Schülke, R., Straube, B., van Dam, L. (2024). Choice- and trial-history effects on causality perception in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder. Preprint https://doi.org/10.31234/OSF.IO/8GHAB

Kirchner, L., Eckert, A.-L., Berg, M., Endres, D., Straube, B., Rief, W., (2024). An Active Inference Approach to interpersonal differences in depression. New Ideas Psychol. 74, 101092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2024.101092

Schmitter, C.V. & Straube, B. (2024) Facilitation of sensorimotor temporal recalibration mechanisms by cerebellar tDCS in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and healthy individuals. Scientific Reports Preprint

Kufer, K., Schmitter, C.V., Kircher, T. & Straube, B. (accepted). Temporal recalibration in response to delayed visual feedback of active versus passive actions: An fMRI study. Scientific Reports. IF = 4.6 PrePrint

Schmitter, C.V., Kufer, K., Steinsträter, O., Sommer, J., Kircher, T., Straube, B. (accepted). Neural correlates of temporal recalibration to delayed auditory feedback of active and passive movements. Human Brain Mapping

Wroblewski, A., Hollandt, M., Yang, Y., Ridderbusch, I.C., Pietzner, A., Szeska, C., Lotze, M., Wittchen, H.-U., Heinig, I., Pittig, A., Arolt, V., Koelkebeck, K., Rothkopf, C.A., Adolph, D., Margraf, J., Lueken, U., Pauli, P., Herrmann, M.J., Winkler, M.H., Ströhle, A., Dannlowski, U., Kircher, T., Hamm, A.O., Straube, B.*, Richter, J.*, (accepted). Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty: How Intolerance of Uncertainty and Trait Anxiety impact fear acquisition, extinction and the return of fear. International Journal of Psychophysiology; preprint. https://doi.org/10.31234/OSF.IO/PM9Z5 *contributed equally IF: 2.903

Ody, E., Kircher, T., Straube, B., He, Y., (accepted). Pre-movement event-related potentials and multivariate pattern of EEG encode action outcome prediction. Human Brain Mapping. See preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/OSF.IO/FJK4R IF: 4.8

Ody, E., Straube, B., He, Y., Kircher, T., (2023). Perception of self- and externally-generated visual stimuli: Evidence from EEG and behaviour. Psychophysiology 60. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14295

Straube, B., Kuehne, H., van Dam, L., Frey, K., van Kemenade, B.M., Kircher, T., & Ried, L. (accepted conference contribution). Speech-gesture mismatch detection in individuals with high vs. low schizotypal traits. International Consortium on Schizotypy Research, ICSR 2022.

Arikan, B. E., Kemenade, B. M. Van, Fiehler, K., Kircher, T., Straube, B., & Drewing, K. (2021). Different contributions of efferent and reafferent feedback to sensorimotor temporal recalibration. Scientific Reports, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02016-5

Cuevas, P.*, He, Y.*, Steines, M. & Straube, B. (2022). The processing of semantic complexity and co-speech gestures in schizophrenia: a naturalistic, multimodal fMRI study. Schizophrenia Bulletin Open, https://doi.org/10.1093/schizbullopen/sgac026  *contributed equally

Uhlmann, L., Pazen, M., van Kemenade, B., Kircher, T., & Straube, B. (2021). Neural Correlates of Self-other Distinction in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: The Roles of Agency and Hand Identity. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa186

Schmitter, C.V. & Straube, B. (accepted). The impact of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on sensorimotor and inter-sensory temporal recalibration. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, section Brain Imaging and Stimulation. IF: 3.473

O’Leary, A., Fernàndez-Castillo, N., Gan, G., Yang, Y., Yotova, A. Y., Kranz, T. M., … Kircher, T. …, Straube, B., … Reif, A. (2022). Behavioural and functional evidence revealing the role of RBFOX1 variation in multiple psychiatric disorders and traits. Molecular Psychiatry, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038

Kavroulakis, E., van Kemenade, B. M., Arikan, B. E., Kircher, T., & Straube, B. (2022). The effect of self-generated versus externally generated actions on timing, duration, and amplitude of blood oxygen level dependent response for visual feedback processing. Human brain mapping, 10.1002/hbm.26053. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26053 IF: 5.399

Riedl, L., Nagels, A., Sammer, G., Choudhury, M., Nonnenmann, A., Sütterlin, A., Feise, C., Haslach, M., Bitsch, F., & Straube, B. (2022). A Novel Multimodal Speech-Gesture Training and Its Impact on Quality of Life and Neural Processing in Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder. A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Schizophrenia Research, 246, 112–125

Lubinus, C., Einhäuser, W., Schiller, F., Kircher, T., Straube, B.* & van Kemenade, B.M.* (2022). Action-based predictions affect visual perception, neural processing, and pupil size, regardless of temporal predictability. NeuroImage, in press. IF: 7.400