June 11, 2014 | News | Talk

What´s new in Working Memory?

On Thursday, June 12, the psychologist Alan Baddeley will give a talk at the MPIDR. The talk is part of a new series of events, “Meet the Expert”, where young scientists have the opportunity to meet experts from various disciplines.

Alan Baddeley is Professor of Psychology at the University of York, Great Britain. Baddeley is one of the psychologists most cited worldwide. He is primarily known for his Working Memory Model: Using experimental conditions, Baddeley has shown that the human brain can perform several tasks simultaneously, provided the performance requires the use of different components of working memory (e.g. doing arithmetic and memorizing a sequence of words). Prior to his results, it was assumed that the short-term memory generally can perform just one task at a time.

Alan Baddeley will visit the MPIDR within the framework of a new series of events called “Meet the Expert”. The Max Planck International Research Network on Aging has started a new series of events where young scientists have the opportunity to meet experts from various different disciplines. The series is held with financial support from the Ernst Schering Foundation.

In "Meet the Expert", as the series is called, an experienced scientist is invited at each meeting to give a talk, proceeded by a discussion. There follows an informal setting where young scientists have the opportunity to meet the expert and talk with him or her about issues such as the next career steps, career prospects after PhD completion and Post-Doc employment, and stays abroad.

Alan Baddeley is the third expert to speak in the series and answer questions. He was preceded by Matthias Schroeter of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and Werner Greve of Hildesheim University.

Organized under the auspices of the Max Planck Society, the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging (MaxNetAging) provides a platform for international cooperation endeavors between 20 Max Planck institutes, a Max Planck Research Group, and outstanding scholars from other institutes. The declared aim of the network, interdisciplinary in nature, is to explore the causes, patterns, processes, and consequences of aging.

The interdisciplinary network gathers scientists from various different disciplines, ranging from cognitive science, neuroscience, biology, mathematics, economics and demography to art history, human development, and sociology.

At the heart of MaxNetAging is a Research School, consisting of a doctoral and postdoctoral stipend program.

Two central tasks of the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging and specifically the MaxPlanck International Research School are to stimulate interdisciplinary networking and exchange and to provide participants with cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge.

"'Meet the Expert' helps us to accomplish these two tasks," says André Schmandke, Deputy Director of MaxNetAging.