News from the neurosciences of the CRC
Hospitalization with dementia – ethical challenges and possible help
Hospitalization is a special situation for people with a (side) diagnosis of…
Magdeburg Matrix team at the German Neuroscience Meeting
At the 16th Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society (NWG) in Göttingen,…
Discussing about the future of Neuroscience
At the 16th Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society (NWG) in Göttingen,…
Prestigious Schram Honorary lecture given by Michael R. Kreutz
Dr. Michael R. Kreutz On the occasion of the 16th Meeting of…
Competitive funding awarded to Anna Karpova
Dr. Anna Karpova CRC 1436 PI Dr. Anna Karpova has been awarded…
Attention female scientists: Lecture with Britta Qualmann
Britta Qualmann is an expert in the molecular processes underlying the making…
EFRE grant for CRC PI Thomas Wolbers
CRC 1436 project leader Thomas Wolbers, PI of sub-project B03 ‘From Alzheimer’s…
April, 28th 2025 – lecture by Patrick Haggard
On April 28, we are pleased to be able to make up…
MAPBio-Symposium – register now
The Research Training Group 2408 invites you to the symposium ‘MAPBio –…
IBIO Research Seminar with Prof. Veit Stuphorn
You are cordially invited to an IBIO Research Seminar: Prof. Veit Stuphorn,…
Our research focus
Is it possible to increase the performance of memory?
What is the hidden potential of the brain and what are its limits?
How can the brain’s cognitive potential be mobilized and enhanced?
The architecture of our brain provides biological limits for the performance of memory, attention, and our capacity for learning; this is evident on both the micro and macro scale. However, there is large variability within these limits and individual cognitive abilities can be improved through directed training. The goal of our Collaborative Research Center (CRC) is to uncover the performance limits of the human brain and to explore methodological approaches for improving this performance. We aim to understand which neurobiological principles limit cognitive resources and how these resources can be fully accessed or even enhanced. Further, we will identify new ways to preserve neural resources across the lifespan with targeted interventions.
More than 40 scientists in 20 individual projects are currently working in our CRC towards this exciting neuroscientific topic, which is also highly relevant in our current society.
Using the latest neuroscientific technologies and innovative methods, human and animal experimental studies will examine individual variability and transferable improvement in cognitive function. We place a specific focus on how performance improvements in one task can be transferred to other tasks and when task performance comes at the expense of other abilities. We also ask, why do cognitive abilities decline with age? And what are the tremendous resources of “super-agers”? Further, we are investigating how molecular and biochemical processes affect cognitive performance, for instance, with the deposition of tau and amyloid in the brain, or those that occur with sleep deprivation or other environmental influences. This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and encompasses both the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and the Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology, as well as the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Magdeburg site, Freie Universität Berlin, Charitè Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and the universities of Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Göttingen.
Co-Spokesperson Dr. Michael Kreutz & Spokesperson Prof. Dr. med. Emrah Düzel
Publications of the CRC
