Dr. Philipp Raßbach

In my doctoral work (supervised by apl. Prof. Dr. Oliver Herbort, Würzburg), I investigated how lower-level motor coordination influences higher-level decision-making in dynamic, real-world-like situations. Using a novel computerized embodied choice paradigm, I studied how the dynamic body state shapes value-based choices during ongoing movement — both through motor cost dynamics and cognitive crosstalk likely arising from overlapping sensorimotor representations. A recurring methodological focus was disentangling these two sources of bias (which are confounded in natural behavior) using orthogonal experimental manipulations across multiple experimental paradigms. The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through grants awarded to Rouwen Cañal-Bruland (CA 635/4-1) and Oliver Herbort (HE 6710/4-1).

My current research (funded through grant KI 1388/12-1 awarded to Prof. Dr. Andrea Kiesel) shifts toward task switching, where participants coordinate two cognitive tasks in sequence rather than a motor control and a decision task in parallel. Using voluntary task switching paradigms, the project „Reinforcement-learning models of voluntary task choices“ investigates the psychometric properties of switching behavior as well as the parameters that drive task switching decisions. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Marie Jakob, MSc, and Prof. Dr. Christoph Klauer. The research is funded by the DFG research unit „Voluntary task switching: Cognitive processes and models to account for task choices“ (led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Markus Raab, Cologne).

Overall, I enjoy designing and implementing behavioral paradigms across a range of platforms, including mouse-and-keyboard setups, game controller-based tasks, and virtual reality environments built in Unity. I am also interested in advanced statistical data analysis methods (e.g., mixed modelling in the Frequentist and Bayesian frameworks).

2025

• Herbort, O., Krause, L.-M., Raßbach, P., & Kunde, W. (2025). How pointing informs visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 51(11), 1560–1575. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001360
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2025). Body-related effects of concurrent movement bias embodied choices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 51(10), 1321–1343. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001346

2024

• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2024). State anticipation and task serialization attenuate embodied decision biases when deciding while moving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 50(7), 683–705. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001208
• Herbort, O., Raßbach, P., & Kunde, W. (2024). Where scrollbars are clicked, and why. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 9(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-024-00551-z
• Grießbach, E., Raßbach, P., Herbort, O., & Cañal-Bruland, R. (2024). Dual-tasking modulates movement speed but not value-based choices during walking. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 6342. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-56937-y

2023

• Grießbach, E., Raßbach, P., Herbort, O., & Cañal-Bruland, R. (2023). Embodied decision biases: individually stable across different tasks?. Experimental Brain Research, 241(4), 1053–1064, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06591-z

2022

• Grießbach, E., Raßbach, P., Herbort, O., & Cañal-Bruland, R. (2022). Embodied decisions during walking. Journal of Neurophysiology, 128(5), 1207–1223. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00149.2022

2021

• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2021). Deciding while moving: Cognitive interference biases value-based decisions. Acta Psychologica, 221, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103449

• Raßbach, P. (2024, October). Deciding while moving: How the body state biases embodied choices. Talk at the Research Colloquium, Department of General Psychology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.

• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2023, March). Deciding while moving: Proximal response features of movement cause cognitive crosstalk [Poster presentation]. Conference of Experimental Psychologists (TeaP), Trier, Germany.
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2022, June). The body state biases value-based decisions via action costs and cognitive crosstalk when deciding while moving [Poster presentation]. TRACE Workshop, Würzburg, Germany.
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2022, March). It’s more than the cost to act: The body state biases value-based decisions due to cognitive crosstalk [Poster presentation]. Conference of Experimental Psychologists (TeaP), Online/Virtual.
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2021, November). Deciding while moving: The effects of action costs and cognitive crosstalk from lower to higher levels in nested multitasking [Poster presentation]. Psychonomics 2021, Online/Virtual.
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2021, October). More time equals better decisions? Longer preview times do not fully alleviate body state related biases when deciding while moving [Poster presentation]. Autumn Conference of Experimental Cognitive Psychology (HexKop), Würzburg, Germany.
• Raßbach, P., Grießbach, E., Cañal-Bruland, R., & Herbort, O. (2021, July). The effects of action costs and cognitive crosstalk from lower on higher levels in nested multitasking [Poster presentation]. ADok Workshop, Würzburg, Germany.

• Acta Psychologica
• 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2024)

Teaching assignments at University of Würzburg

• Seminar Cognitive Psychology I (B.Sc.)
• Seminar Cognitive Psychology II (B.Sc.)
• Experimental Practical Training (B.Sc.)