Research Spotlight: Tim Dreßler
Welcome to our new series where we feature our researchers in the RTG! To show and celebrate the people behind the science, we are shining a spotlight on the brilliant minds of our Research Training Group and sharing their research, their motivations, and what drives them to explore the fascinating world of emotional learning and memory.
Who are you, how long have you been part of the RTG, and what are you working on?
My name is Tim, I started my PhD within the RTG in September 2025 after finishing my Master’s in Neuropsychology in Oldenburg. In my PhD, I am working on better understanding how memories can be linked and how that enables us to make novel inferences. In addition to better understanding basic mechanisms, I am also investigating how stress and being at risk for psychosis alter the mentioned processes.
What do people often misunderstand or overlook about the topic you are working on?
Memory is often seen as a static storage of experienced events. However, our memory is remarkably flexible. For example, if one experiences two separate events, like seeing a woman and dog and (on another day) seeing the same dog with a man, one can quickly infer that the man and the woman are a couple (or at least that they have a dog together). On the other hand, if we merge each memory that overlaps with another one, we will lose memory for specific details. The brain therefore needs to carefully balance the integration and separation of memories.
How has being part of this RTG shaped you in your role?
I think I learned a lot over the past ~10 months in the sense of practical experience (e.g., managing student assistants) as well as methods skills (e.g., Decoding approaches). Both “learning-by-doing” as well as specific RTG resources (such as the methods workshops) helped me with that. Furthermore, I increasingly came to realize that a PhD is not a one-person job but rather a group effort, built on both supporting and getting support from other PhD researchers in the RTG.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in research?
Have the courage to disagree and stand your ground but also be ready to let go of ideas and arguments if you are wrong. Also, try to keep everything as structured and tidy as possible and use the tools available to help you with that (e.g., Git). Also, don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues (especially other PhD researchers) questions that may seem trivial. They are probably facing similar uncertainties and will often be happy to figure things out together.
