Dr. Simon Büchner
Dr. Simon J. Büchner studied Cognitive Science and Philosophy in Freiburg and Cognitive Psychology in Amherst, Massachusetts, supported by scholarships from the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and the Fulbright Commission. He then worked in interdisciplinary research projects on human spatial navigation and received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Freiburg. As a graduate student, he was a visiting researcher at Concordia University, Montréal.
Dr. Büchner is responsible for the Major Life Sciences. This includes the development of the curriculum, the course offerings per semester, recruiting and supporting Teaching Fellows, as well as thesis supervision.
- 2024 Co-Chair of the spring school Interdisciplinary College “IK2024 – Resilience, Robustness, Responsibility”
- 2023 E-Teaching Fellowship of the University of Freiburg “Expansion of the online course Pandemics: Determinants and Management.”
- 2020 Awarding of the Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship
- 2020–2022 DAAD IVAC project VirtualLAS (Pandemics in History; Pandemics – Detection, Containment, Control)
- 2017–2020 Erasmus+ project CREATES (Creating Responsive, Engaging and Tailored Education with Students): Problem-Based Learning, Research-Based Learning
- since 2012 Lecturer and Course Coordinator for Life Sciences, University College, University of Freiburg
- 2010 Dissertation and Disputation (Dr. phil.) in Psychology, University of Freiburg, Title: “Environmental Structure, Mental Representations, and Path Choice Heuristics – Information Processing in Wayfinding”.
- 2008 Visiting Researcher at Concordia University, Montréal, QC
- 2005–2012 Research Assistant in the SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition – Project R6-[SpaceGuide] at the Center for Cognitive Science, University of Freiburg
- 2003–2005 Master of Science in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
- 2000–2003 Undergraduate studies of Education, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy at the University of Freiburg
I give lectures and seminars in the Life Sciences and Core of the LAS program. I introduced Problem-Based Learning (PBL) to selected courses, which showed to be suitable for this type of teaching. PBL is a student-centered learning method, which uses real-world cases as an incentive to start an active process of learning by the students as a group and as an individual based on prior knowledge they already have. In the Introduction to Life Sciences class, I use the flipped classroom approach.
Selected Classes:
- Introduction to Life Sciences (summer semester)
- Sensation and Perception (summer semester, bi-annually)
- Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence (summer semester, bi-annually)
- Planning and Doing Research (winter semester)
- Research and Presentation: Aspects of Communication (winter semester)
- Artificial Intelligence (2018, 2019; Intensive Class at Leuphana University)
- Cognitive Science (2014)
- Research and Presentation: Technological Transformations (2012–2016)
- Dealing with Numerical Information (2013–2019)
My research covered the areas of perception, attention, and decision making mostly in the context of spatial cognition and wayfinding, both in laboratory settings as well as in the field. This included research on the allocation of attention in large-scale complex spaces and the interaction of bottom-up perceptual factors and top-down factors such as the participant’s goal. The methods I used include stationary and mobile eye-tracking, behavioral experiments, and self-assessment among others. Further research interests include Applied Cognition, Visual Attention, and Consciousness.
Selected Publications:
- Büchner, Simon (2019) Eye Tracking as a Method for Artistic Research. In: Kallert, Carolin (Ed.) Die Eigenart der Pose – Blick auf eine locker gehaltene Spannung. VDG Verlag.
- Schwarzkopf, S., Büchner, S.J., Hölscher, C. & Konieczny, L. (2016). Perspective Tracking in the Real World. Gaze Angle Analysis in a Collaborative Wayfinding Task. Spatial Cognition & Computation.
- Müller-Feldmeth, D., Schwarzkopf, S., Büchner, S.J., Hölscher, C., Kallert, G., von Stülpnagel, R., & Konieczny, L. (2014). Location Dependent Fixation Analysis with Sight Vectors. Locomotion as a Challenge in Mobile Eye Tracking. In: 2nd Intl. Workshop on Eye Tracking for Spatial Research, ET4S.
- Büchner, S.J., Wiener, J. & Hölscher, C. (2012). Methodological Triangulation to Assess Sign Placement. Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Eye-Tracking Research & Applications.
- Wiener, J., Büchner, S.J. & Hölscher, C. (2009). Taxonomy of Human Wayfinding Tasks: A Knowledge-Based Approach. Spatial Cognition & Computation 9 (2), pp 152–165.
The following are projects funded via the Studierendenvorschlagsbudget.
- 2023 “Blended Learning für die Einführungsveranstaltung Introduction to Life Sciences / Blended Learning for the class Introduction to Life Sciences.” (EUR 9.5K)
- 2020 “Robotische Systeme 2.0 / Robotic Systems 2.0” (with Reto Schölly, EUR 3.5K)
- 2019 “E-learning Vorkurs Mathematik in englischer Sprache / E-learning pre-course mathematics in English” (with Sabine Sané, EUR 8K)
- 2018 “Robotische Systeme verstehen – Ein interdisziplinäres Lehrangebot für Studierende nicht-technischer Fächer / Understanding Robotic Systems – An Interdisciplinary Course for Students of Non-Technical Subjects” (with Reto Schölly, EUR 7.5K)
- 2016 Acquisition of two SOMSO® brain models (EUR 1K)
- 2023 Member of the Board of Studies (Liberal Arts and Sciences)
- 2020 Organization of the final conference for the ERASMUS+ project CREATES (cancelled due to Covid-19)
- Since 2013 Member of the Board of Directors (University College Freiburg)
- Since 2010 Reviewer for the annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society
- Since 2010 Ad-hoc reviews for Springer; Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics; Spatial Cognition & Computation; PLOS ONE; Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT); Environmental Design and Research Association (EDRA)