Neda Shahidi, PhD (nshahidi(at)dpz(dot)eu) she is the head of the Embodied Cognition Group at the University of Göttingen. Neda's work focuses on unraveling the cortical mechanisms that support real-life, ecologically relevant behaviors by studying the neural dynamics underlying planning and goal-directed actions. She has received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Houston, M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Tehran. As a group leader, Neda is keep to discover individuality of the team members and lead them toward their goals based on their interests and skills.

Zahra Yousefi Darani, PhD (yousefi(at)dpz(dot)eu) is a postdoc with the team. She is now working on understanding how naturalistic decisions are made and when they occur. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology and her master's degree in physiology from the University of Isfahan, Iran. Zahra pursued a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at SISSA in Trieste, Italy, then began her first postdoctoral position at DPZ and her second position and the University of Göttingen.

Sara Ahmadi Majd (sahmadi(at)dpz(dot)eu) is a PhD student with the team. Sara is passionate about the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, using AI to improve neuroscience research while drawing inspiration from neuroscience to develop AI algorithms. Her previous study investigated these integrative techniques. She has a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in cognitive sciences from the University of Tehran. Her PhD project is to investigates the role of hidden states of vigilance during decision-making in free-moving macaques. She is fascinated by the mechanics that drive decision-making, especially in uncertain situations.

Alumni

Hanah Lüschen

Sophie Atzpodien

René Burghardt

Numa Koudsie

Kacper Ksiezak

Join Our Research Team

Reach out to us for inquiries about open positions.

Where we are

Our lab is located in Germany, where we conduct pioneering research on embodied cognition with non-human primates.

Germany

Embodied Cognition Research Group
German Primate Center
Kellnerweg 4
37077 Göttingen

E-mail: nshahidi(at)dpz(dot)eu