Rausch

Manuel Rausch

Akademischer Rat auf Zeit at the Professorship for General Psychology II

Manuel Rausch PhD

Akademischer Rat auf Zeit

E-mail manuel.rausch@ku.de

Postal Address
Ostenstraße 25
85072 Eichstätt

Office hours
via Zoom
on appointment by e-mail

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CV

Since 2016: Akademischer Rat auf Zeit at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Professorship for General Psychology II
2015-2016: Research Assistant at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Professorship for General Psychology II
2012-2016: PhD in Systemic Neurosciences at the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich
- Supervisor: Prof. Michael Zehetleitner
- Thesis title: Content, granularity, and type 2 sensitivity of subjective measures of visual consciousness
2011-2012: M. Sc. in Neuro-Cognitive Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich
2010-2011: B. Sc. in Neuro-Cognitive Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich
2007-2011: Intermediate diploma in Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich

Research interests

Reproducibility in empirical research
Mathematical modeling of behaviour
Metacognition
Perceptual decision making
Confidence in perceptual decision making
Visual awareness

Research methods

Psychophysical experiments
Cognitive modeling
Bayesian statistics
Electroencephalography und event-related potients

Publications in peer-reviewed journals

Hellmann, S., Zehetleitner, M., & Rausch, M. (in press). Simultaneous modeling of choice, confidence, and response time in visual perception. Psychological Review. Accepted manuscript. Full material.

Rausch, M., Hellmann, S., & Zehetleitner, M. (2021). Modelling visibility judgments using models of decision confidence. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics. 83(8), 3311-3336. Full text, Full material

Rausch, M., Zehetleitner, M., Steinhauser, M., & Maier, M. E. (2020). Cognitive modelling reveals distinct electrophysiological markers of decision confidence and error monitoring. NeuroImage, 218, 116963. Full text, Full material

Rahnev, D., Desender, K., Lee, A. L. F., Adler, W. T., Aguilar-Lleyda, D., Akdoğan, B., Arbuzova, P., Atlas, L. Y., Balcı, F., Bang, J. W., Bègue, I., Birney, D. P., Brady, T. F., Calder-Travis, J., Chetverikov, A., Clark, T. K., Davranche, K., Denison, R. N., Dildine, T. C., … Zylberberg, A. (2020). The Confidence Database. Nature Human Behaviour, 4, 317-325. Full material.

Rausch M. ,Zehetleitner, M. (2019). The folded X-pattern is not necessarily a statistical signature of decision confidence. PLoS Computational Biology. 15 (10), e1007456. Full text, Full material.

Rausch, M., Hellmann, S., & Zehetleitner, M. (2018). Confidence in masked orientation discrimination decisions is informed by both evidence and visibility. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80, 134-155. doi: 10.3758/s13414-017-1431-5 Full text, Full material.

Schlagbauer, B., Rausch, M., Zehetleitner, M., Müller, H. J. & Geyer, T. (2018). Contextual cueing of visual search is associated with greater subjective experience of the search display configuration. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 4, 1, niy001. doi: 10.1093/nc/niy001 Full text, Full material.

Rausch, M., & Zehetleitner, M. (2017). Should metacognition be measured by logistic regression? Consciousness and Cognition. 49, 291-312. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.02.007. Full text, Full material.

Rausch, M., & Zehetleitner, M. (2016). Visibility is not equivalent to confidence in a low contrast orientation discrimination task. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 591. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00591. Full text, Full material.

Rausch, M., Müller, H. J., & Zehetleitner, M. (2015). Metacognitive sensitivity of subjective reports of decisional confidence and visual experience. Consciousness and Cognition, 35, 192-205. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2015.02.011. Full text.

Rausch, M., & Zehetleitner, M. (2014). A comparison between a visual analogue scale and a four point scale as measures of conscious experience of motion. Consciousness and Cognition, 28, 126-140. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.06.012. Full text.

Zehetleitner, M., & Rausch, M. (2013). Being confident without seeing: What subjective measures of consciousness are about? Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 75, 1406-1426. doi:10.3758/s13414-013-0505-2. Full text

Projects

Cognitive modelling: Blessing or curse for replication in Psychology?

Principal investigators: Manuel Rausch und Michael Zehetleitner
Project staff: -
Project duration: starting soon.
funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the prority program META-REP.

Psychological science is currently facing a crisis of credibility because researchers have realized that numerous influential psychological studies cannot be replicated. A potential explanation for replication failures is that psychological theories are often underspecified. As a countermeasure against weak theories, it has bees been recommended that psychological studies should make more wide-spread use of formal cognitive modelling to generate more precise predictions. However, it has never been empirically investigated if cognitive modelling analysis is in fact beneficial for replicability. Given the large number of arbitrary analysis decisions required for cognitive modelling analyses, there is the possibility that cognitive modelling is in fact counterproductive for replicability of psychological findings. In our project, we aim to investigate the replicability of cognitive models based on Bayesian Brain Theory in three exemplary studies. First, we will investigate the reproducibility of the analyses conducted by the authors of the original studies using the original data sets. Second, we will examine the robustness of cognitive modelling analyses by systematically assessing the impact of a variety of theoretically equivalent analysis decisions onto the results. Finally, we will test if we obtain equivalent results as reported in the original studies when we perform exact replication studies of the original experiments.

Sure or unsure: How is confidence in perceptual decisions generated?

Principal investigators: Michael Zehetleitner and Manuel Rausch
Project staff: Sebastian Hellmann,
Project duration: 2019 – 2023
funded by: German Research Foundation

Human observers are frequently faced with the need to respond to external objects although perception of these objects is incomplete or distorted. In these cases, it is necessary to use the percept of the object to make a decision which of several possible objects is present at the moment. In general terms, these decisions are characterized by three properties: First, humans can make a correct or an incorrect decision which of the objects is present. Second, it may take varying periods of time until a decision is accomplished. Finally, humans may feel a greater or lesser degree of confidence about having made the correct decision about the object. However, the existing mathematical theories of decision-making are not able to provide a satisfactory explanation for accuracy, decision time, and confidence at the same time. The goal of the present project is to provide and test a mathematical theory of choice, confidence, and decision time. For this purpose, we aim to extend the weighed evidence and visibility model, a recently proposed theory of choice and confidence, to include decision time as well.

Modeling confidence and reaction times in perceptual decisions

Principal investigator: Manuel Rausch
Project duration: 2017 - 2018
funded by the KU-specific research funding proFOR+

Human beings often face situations with the need to react to external objects although perception of these objects is incomplete or distorted. These situations force humans to make so-called perceptual decisions, i.e., they need to select an action depending on what is the most likely state of the world. Perceptual decisions are characterized by three aspects. First, a perceptual decision can be correct or incorrect. Second, when making a perceptual decision, humans experience a specific degree of confidence that a decision is correct. This means they can be sure that their choice is correct, or they can think that a correct decision is unlikely. Finally, it may take a shorter or a longer period of time until people have settled on a decision. An adequate theory of perceptual decision making should be able to account for errors, confidence, as well as decision times. The goal of the project is to develop a mathematical model that is able to explain errors, confidence and decision times at the same time.

Teaching

I teach General Psychology as well as methods of experimental psychology. When I teach methods, I regularly use the free softwares PsychoPy to programm computer-based experiments and R to analyze the data statistically.

Looking for a thesis topic?

If you are indeed looking for a topic for your thesis in Experimental Psychology, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Classes taught by Manuel Rausch

Lecture "General Psychology 1"
Seminar "General Psychology 1"
UK "Projektarbeit"
UK "Empirisch-Experimentelles Praktikum I"
Seminar "Aktuelle Forschungsfragen"
UK "Empirisch-Experimentelles Praktikum II"