Max A. B. Hinrichs
Doctoral Candidate
Academic education
since 2021 Doctoral candidate, Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig, Germany
Doctoral research performed at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig
Supervisor: Christian Doeller
Lab rotations in the orientation phase:
Hauke Heekeren & Rasmus Bruckner,
Christian Doeller & Nicholas Menghi, and
Nicolas Schuck & Shany Grossman
2021 Master of Science in Psychology, Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
2019 Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
Research experience
2020–2021 Research assistance, Perception and Cognition Group (Dr. Arezoo Pooresmaeili), European Neuroscience Institute, Göttingen, Germany
2019–2020 Research internship, Functional Imaging Laboratory (Prof. Susann Boretius), German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
2018–2019 Research assistance, Department of Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology (Prof. Annekathrin Schacht), Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
2018 Research internship, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab (Dr. Gina Grimshaw), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zeeland
2016–2017 Research assistance, Department of Developmental Psychology (Prof. Hannes Rakoczy), Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
Scholarships and Awards
12/2025 MPUTC Symposium: Frontiers of Neuroscience and Technology. Halle, Germany, best poster award for an “Outstanding Doctoral Research Project in Cognitive Neuroscience”
2020 “Lower Saxony scholarship” (Niedersachsenstipendium) for exceptionally gifted students, Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, Germany
2019 Small grant for participant reimbursement for bachelor’s project „Enhancing the ecological validity in tasks of implicit theory of mind”, Fachgruppe Psychologie, Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
2018 PROMOS stipend for a 12-week internship at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany
2017 Erasmus+ Key Action 103 Grant for exchange studies at the University of Bergen, Norway
Publications
Menghi, N., Johnston, W. J., Viganò, S., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Maess, B. Fusi, S. & Doeller, C. F. (2025). The effects of task similarity during representation learning in brains and neural networks. Nature Communications, 16(1), Article 10812. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66849-8
Kulke, L., & Hinrichs, M. A. B. (2021). Implicit Theory of Mind under realistic social circumstances measured with mobile eye-tracking. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80614-5
Hinrichs, M., & Kulke, L. (2019). Testing anticipatory looking implicit Theory of Mind paradigms under more realistic social circumstances [Preregistration with the Open Science Framework]. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/NTJ2Y
Poster presentations and talks
Hinrichs, M. A. B., Menghi, N., Xu, Y., Schuck, N. W., Doeller, C. D. (2025, December 2). Investigating the role of neural replay in multi-agent navigation. MPUTC Symposium: Frontiers of Neuroscience and Technology. Halle, Germany. [poster]
Hinrichs, M. A. B., Menghi, N., Xu, Y., Schuck, N. W., Doeller, C. D. (2025, November 17). Investigating the role of neural replay in multi-agent navigation. Society for Neuroscience Conference. San Diego, US. [poster]
Xu, Y., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Bottini, R., Doeller, C. D. (2025, October 18). A Different Angle on Space-Time Interference: Disentangling Cognitive Maps and Graphs in the Human Brain. Time Research Forum, Tokio, Japan. [oral presentation].
Menghi, N., Viganò, S., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Maess, B. & Doeller, C. F. (2023, November 15). Compressing, aligning and transferring knowledge across tasks and domains. Society for Neuroscience Conference. Washington DC, US. [poster]
Menghi, N., Viganò, S., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Maess, B., & Doeller, C. F. (2023). Aligning and transferring knowledge across tasks and domains. 21st Annual Context and Episodic Memory Symposium (CEMS). Orlando, FL, US. [poster]
Bayramova, R.*, Goltermann, O.*, Enk, L., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Kamp, F., Serio, B., & Hofmann, S. (2022, August/September). Explainable AI for higher cognitive functions: How to provide explanations in the face of increasing complexity [Talk]. 22nd Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, Lille, France.
Goltermann O.*, Bayramova, R.*, Enk, L., Hinrichs, M. A. B., Kamp, F., Serio, B., & Hofmann, S. (2022, July). Explainable AI for higher cognitive functions: How to provide explanations in the face of increasing complexity [Flash talk]. Neuromatch Academy, online.
Kulke, L., & Hinrichs, M. (2021, July). Measuring implicit Theory of Mind in live social situations with mobile eye-tracking [Talk]. 32nd International Congress of Psychology, online.
Kulke, L., & Hinrichs, M. (2020, September). Monitoring gaze during live interactions – a mobile eye-tracking study investigating Theory of Mind [Poster flash]. 52nd Congress of the German Psychological Society (DGPs Congress), online.
* shared first authorship