Freud CanBeLab – Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory

Neurolaw research project

We are looking for non-lawyers for an interdisciplinary research project between neuroscience and law at the Sigmund Freud University of Vienna.

The project will measure brain activity to investigate whether EEG (electroencephalography) can detect a difference in the activity of different brain regions in response to legal terms between lawyers and non-lawyers.

Freud CanBeLab

The Freud CanBeLab is a brain research laboratory equipped with physiological and psychological measurement methods for empirical studies of cognitive and/or affective information processing in the human brain and is operated by the Faculty of Psychology in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine directly on the SFU campus. The aim is to explain and better understand unconscious processes at the interface between cognitive psychology and neurophysiology (e.g. in decision economics) with the help of objective measurement methods. For the time being, two methods are being used:

  • EEG: Using a 64-channel electroencephalograph (with active electrodes), brain activity can be measured in millisecond resolution in order to describe even the shortest neuronal phenomena (brain functions). EEG data is analysed according to the principle of event-related potentials (ERPs), which means that stimuli are presented in a controlled manner using presentation software (“Psychopy”) and then usually have to be assessed according to a specific instruction. Often, however, purely passive stimulus perception is also sufficient, the associated processing of which can be described in the brain.
  • Startle reflex modulation (SMR): This method can be used to measure and quantify affective responses to controlled stimulus presentations without verbal questioning. The physiological measurement method required for this is electromyography (EMG). This is carried out using a mobile 10-channel system. The same device can also be used to record several other parameters such as heart rate, skin conductance, respiratory rate, movement and temperature.
A woman in an EEG cap sits at a desk and works at a computer with several screens displaying instructions for a cognitive experiment; next to her, a man in a lab coat sits at another desk with his back to the camera. The logo of the Sigmund Freud Private University is shown at the bottom right.

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Contact us

Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr Peter Walla PD, peter.walla@sfu.ac.at

Freud CanBeLab – Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory
Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna
Freudplatz 3, Room 464 / 4th floor
1020 Vienna

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