The Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany seeks applicants for 1 Postdoctoral Position (EG 13 TVöD; 39 hours/week). The position is for an initial period of three years. Starting date is October 1, 2026, or until the position is filled.
The successful candidate will join the research project, Mechanisms and Sequential Progression of Plasticity (https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/research/researchcenters/lip/projects/plasticity), at the Center for Lifespan Psychology (https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/research/research-centers/lifespan-psychology) of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
The postdoctoral researcher will play a central role in designing and conducting behavioral and neuroimaging studies aimed at testing the EESR theory of learning-related plastic brain changes (see https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/2317967/eesr-theory). Key responsibilities include designing neuroimaging studies of motor skill learning, overviewing empirical studies, conducting behavioral and neuroimaging analyses using advanced statistical methods, writing and revising manuscripts, and presenting findings at international conferences.
We seek highly motivated candidates with strong quantitative and analytical expertise and a genuine interest in human learning and brain plasticity.
Successful applicants hold a doctoral degree in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, or related fields.
Essential qualifications include:
-- Interest in neural mechanisms of experience-dependent behavioral change
-- Readiness to contribute to task development (e.g., scanner-compatible hardware)
-- Experience in conducting and analyzing cognitive neuroscience experiments
-- Knowledge and skills in multivariate statistics and the measurement of change
-- Familiarity with one or more of the following neuroimaging methods and modalities: functional connectivity, representational similarity analysis, decoding techniques; structural connectivity, magnetic resonance spectroscopy; quantitative MRI
-- Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in an interdisciplinary research environment
-- Excellent written and spoken English-language skills
The envisioned series of experiments to be conducted by the successful applicant forms part of a scientific collaboration with Martin Lövdén, University of Gothenburg (https://lovdenlab.org/team/).
Interest in other aspects of EESR-related studies, such as computational modeling of sensorimotor learning, and in other areas of the project, such as music-related plasticity or species-comparative research, are desirable. A commitment to transparent, rigorous, and responsible research is expected.