Job ID: 117103

Postdoc in computational cognitive neuroscience in an interdisciplinary project

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 13 December 2023

Employment Start Date: 1 January 2024

Contract Length: 1-5 years

City: Brno

Country: Czech Republic

Institution: Masaryk University

Department:

Description:

We are seeking two postdoctoral candidates with background in social psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience or computer science to join a highly interdisciplinary project on the computational model of religious decision-making. The Computing Religious Devotion project (CREDO) is funded by a Junior Star grant from the Czech National Foundation and is based at the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA) at Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic). This project aims to understand how religious devotion influences cognitive computations during decision-making.

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The successful candidates will lead the development and testing of the computational model of religious decision-making in cooperation with the Principal Investigator, Dr. Martin Lang. Specifically, the successful candidates will empirically develop the model by determining how religious belief affects the strength of religious priors during normative decision-making in various laboratory and field studies. They will work in a fully equipped lab (EEG, fNIRS, BIOPAC) with access to fMRI and at a field site in Mauritius. The candidates will be given significant responsibility and autonomy while also benefiting from the mentorship of the PI, playing a crucial role in forming the CREDO project as well as future research areas for the whole lab.

Necessary qualifications:

  • PhD (or approaching PhD) in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Computer Science or a related field.
  • Either competence in designing and executing behavioural/neuroscientific experiments or competence in computational modelling of cognitive processes
  • Fluent in statistical code in either R, Python, or Matlab.
  • English language (C1 or higher).
  • At least one first-author publication (pre-prints are eligible)t.
  • Ability to work collaboratively as part of a research team.
About the employer

The Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion (LEVYNA) is  an interdisciplinary, collaborative team of experimentalists tackling  the evolution and functioning of human cognitive mechanisms facilitating  religious cognition, behaviour, and institutions. We value open  science, collegiality, and cooperation.

‍Martin Lang is the director of LEVYNA and the PI of the CREDO project.  His work lies at the intersection between the humanities and the  cognitive and behavioural sciences, combining laboratory experiments  with field studies to investigate how the human mind creates cultural  niches and functions in them. He recently received a Vice-Rector at  Masaryk University award for mentoring and excellent dissertation.

Website: https://www.levyna.cz/en

Official call: https://www.phil.muni.cz/en/careers/available-positions/76899