Deutsch Intern
Research Methods & Social Cognition

Prof. Dr. Anne Böckler-Raettig

E-Mail anne.boeckler@uni-wuerzburg.de
Phone +49 (931) 31 80506
Address Röntgenring 11, 97070 Würzburg (Lachs)
Room H3
Consultation weekly by appointment

Research areas

  • Gaze processing and gaze behaviour
  • Social cognition: empathy, perspective taking, Theory of Mind
  • Social interaction: altruism, prosocial behavior, social exclusion
  • Social cognition and interaction in clinical and developmental contexts
  • Effectiveness of meditation-based interventions

Research projects (publicly funded)

Emmy Noether Research Group: More than meets the eye: Integration, influences and impairments of direct gaze processing

DFG Research Project "ContextualEYEze: Das Zusammenspiel von Blick- und Kontextinformation beim sozialen Urteilen, Verstehen und Entscheiden"https://gepris-extern.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/550926152

Offices Held

Teaching

  • Lecture Multivariate Statistics (Monday 10-12 am)
  • Seminar Social Cognition & Interaction (Wednesday 12-2 pm)
  • PhD seminar (Tuesday 8-10 am)
  • Seminar Perceiving Minds of Individuals & Groups (with Prof. Deutsch; Friday 10-12 am)
  • Seminar Social Cognition (with Prof. Deutsch; Tuesday 2-4 pm)
  • Colloquium Cognitive Psychology (with Prof. Kunde, Prof. Huestegge, Prof. Eder; Monday 6-8 pm)

Professional background

Since 2021 Professor for Research Methods & Social Cognition at Würzburg University
Since 2018 PI of the Emmy Noether Research Group “More than meets the eye”
2020-2021 Professor for Cognitive Psychology at Leibniz University Hannover
2015-2020 Assistant Professor at Würzburg University
Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig
2012-2015 Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science, Leipzig
2011-2012 Visiting Research Collaborator at Princeton University, USA
2013 PhD Defense at Radboud University, Nijmegen, NL
2008-2012 PhD candidate at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, NL / Radboud University, Nijmegen, NL
2002-2008 Psychology (Diploma) at Humboldt-University Berlin and University of Glasgow, funded by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation

 

Publications

Copyright notice: Please note that the documents provided are made available solely for the purpose of facilitating the non-commercial dissemination of scientific work for study purposes. Access is subject to the terms and conditions of the copyright holders.

Books

Böckler-Raettig (2024). Soziale Kognition und Interaktion. Ein Lehrbuch. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. https://doi.org/10.17433/978-3-17-043221-5

Böckler-Raettig (2019). Theory of Mind. München: Ernst Reinhardt. 

Eintrag zu Theory of Mind im socialnet Lexikon: https://www.socialnet.de/lexikon/Theory-of-Mind

Journal Articles

* contributed equally

2025

Kürten, J., Breil, C., Pittig, R., Huestegge, L., & Böckler, A. (2025). How eccentricity modulates attention capture by direct face/gaze and sudden onset motion. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 87(2), 354-366. 10.3758/s13414-025-03015-8 (open access)

2024

Hein, G., Huestegge, L., Böckler-Raettig, A., Deserno, L., Eder, A. B., Hewig, J., ... & Gamer, M. (2024). A social information processing perspective on social connectedness. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 167, 105945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105945 (open access)

Konrad, A. C., Förster, K., Stretton, J., Dalgleish, T., Böckler‐Raettig, A., Trautwein, F. M., ... & Kanske, P. (2024). Risk factors for internalizing symptoms: The influence of empathy, theory of mind, and negative thinking processes. Human Brain Mapping, 45(3), e26576. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26576 (open access)

Landmann, E., Breil, C., Huestegge, L.*, & Böckler, A.* (2024). The semantics of gaze in person perception: A novel qualitative-quantitative approach. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 893. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-51331-0 

van der Wel, R. P., Prodanova, Y., Snyder, J., Welsh, T. N., & Böckler, A. (2024). Is emotion perception altered by gaze direction, gender appearance, and gender identity of the perceived face?. Emotionhttps://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0001406 

Wesarg-Menzel, C., Gallistl, M., Niconchuk, M., Böckler, A., O’Malley, B., & Engert, V. (2024). Compassion buffers the association between trauma exposure and PTSD symptom severity: Findings of a cross-sectional study. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 165, 107036. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107036 (open access)

2023

Klinker, L., Böckler, A., Kreibich, S., & Mazigo, H. (2023). Cultural adaption and validation of the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue–Community Stigma Scale in the assessment of public stigma related to schistosomiasis in lakeshore areas of Mwanza region, Tanzania. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 17(8), e0011534. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011534 (open access)

Landmann, E., Krahmer, A., & Böckler, A. (2023). Social Understanding beyond the Familiar: Disparity in Visual Abilities Does Not Impede Empathy and Theory of Mind. Journal of Intelligence, 12(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence12010002 (open access)

Micheli, L., Breil, C., & Böckler, A. (2023). Golden gazes: Gaze direction and emotional context promote prosocial behavior by increasing attributions of empathy and perspective-taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/pspi0000437 

Valk. S. L., Kanske, P., Park, B., Hong, S.-J., Böckler, A., Trautwein, F.-M., Bernhardt, B, & Singer, T. (2023). Functional and microstructural plasticity following social and interoceptive mental training. eLife 12:e85188. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.85188 (open access)

2022

Blasberg, J. U., Kanske, P., Böckler, A., Trautwein, F. M., Singer, T., & Engert, V. (2022). Associations of social processing abilities with psychosocial stress sensitivity. Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology12, 100159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100159 (open access)

​​​​​Böckler, A. & Singer, T. (2022). Longitudinal Evidence for Differential Plasticity of Cognitive Functions: Mindfulness-based mental training enhances working memory, but not perceptual discrimination, response inhibition and metacognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xge0001143 (open access)

Breil, C., Huestegge, L., & Böckler, A. (2022). From eye to arrow: Attention capture by direct gaze requires more than just the eyes. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02382-2 (open access)

Breil, C., Raettig, T., Pittig, R., van der Wel, R. P., Welsh, T., & Böckler, A. (2022). Don’t look at me like that: Integration of gaze direction and facial expression. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance48(10), 1083. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/xhp0001046

Lehmann, K., Böckler, A., Klimecki, O., Müller-Liebmann, C., & Kanske, P. (2022). Empathy and correct mental state inferences both promote prosociality. Scientific reports12(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20855-8 (open access)

McDonald, B., Böckler, A., & Kanske, P. (2022). Soundtrack to the social world: Emotional music enhances empathy, compassion, and prosocial decisions but not theory of mind. Emotion. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001036 (open access)

Pittig, R., van der Wel, R. P., Welsh, T. N., & Böckler, A. (2022). What’s in a gaze, what’s in a face?: The direct gaze effect can be modulated by emotion expression. Emotion. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0001076

Stengelin, R., Schleihauf, H., Seidl., A., & Böckler-Raettig, A. (2022). Spreading the game: An experimental study on the link between children’s overimitation and their adoption, transmission, and modification of conventional information. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 213, 105271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105271 (open access)

2021

Breil, C., Kanske, P., Pittig, R. & Böckler, A. (2021). A revised instrument for the assessment of empathy and Theory of Mind in adolescents: Introducing the EmpaToM-Y. Behavior Research Methods. 10.3758/s13428-021-01589-3 (open access)

Breil, C. & Böckler-Raettig, A. (2021): Look away to listen: the interplay of emotional context and eye contact in video conversations, Visual Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2021.1908470

Böckler, A., Rennert, A., & Raettig, T. (2021). Stranger, lover, friend? The pain of rejection does not depend.Social Psychology, 52(3), 173–184. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000446 (open acces)

Schmitz, L., Wahn, B., Krüger, M., & Böckler-Raettig, A. (2021). In the blink of an eye? Evidence for a reduced attentional blink for eyes. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 43. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/22m7b86k (open access)

Riechelmann, E., Gamer, M., Böckler, A., & Huestegge, L. (2021). How ubiquitous is the direct-gaze advantage? Evidence for an averted-gaze advantage in a gaze-discrimination task. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02147-3 (open access)

Riechelmann, E., Raettig, T., Böckler, A., & Huestegge, L. (2021). Gaze interaction: Anticipation-based control of the gaze of others. Psychological Research, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01257-4

Wahn, B., Schmitz, L., Kingstone, A., & Böckler-Raettig, A. (2021). When eyes beat lips: speaker gaze affects audiovisual integration in the McGurk illusion. Psychological Research, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-021-01618-y (open access)

2020

Breil, C. & Böckler, A. (2020). The lens shapes the view: On task dependency in ToM research. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 7, 41-50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-020-00205-6 (open access)

Götz, F., Böckler, A., & Eder, A. (2020). Low numbers from a low head? Effects of observed head orientation on numerical cognition. Psychological Research, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01221-2

Tholen, M. G., Trautwein, F. M., Böckler, A., Singer, T., & Kanske, P. (2020). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) item analysis of empathy and theory of mind. Human Brain Mapping. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24966 (open access)

Trautwein, F.-M., Kanske, P., Böckler, A., & Singer, T. (2020). Differential benefits of mental training types for attention, compassion, and theory of mind. Cognition, 194, 104039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104039 (open access)

2019

Böckler, A. (2019). Why we share our cookies: Prosocial behavior from a psychological perspective. Anthropologischer Anzeiger; Bericht über die biologisch-anthropologische Literatur. https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/0880

Lehmann, K., Maliske, L., Böckler, A., & Kanske, P. (2019). Social impairments in mental disorders: Recent developments in studying the mechanisms of interactive behavior. Clinical Psychology in Europe1(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.32872/cpe.v1i2.33143 (open access)

Riechelmann*, E., Weller*, L., Huestegge, L., Böckler, A., & Pfister, R. (2019). Revisiting intersubjective action-effect binding: No evidence for social moderators. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 81(6), 1991–2002. doi:10.3758/s13414-019-01715-6 (open access)

2018

Böckler, A., Tusche, A., Schmidt, P., & Singer, T. (2018). Distinct mental trainings differentially enhance altruistically motivated, norm motivated, and self-reported prosocial behaviour. Scientific reports, 8(1), 13560. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31813-8 (open access)

Lumma, A. L., Valk, S., Böckler, A., Vrticka, P., & Singer, T. (2018). Change in emotional self-concept following socio-cognitive training relates to structural plasticity of the prefrontal cortex. Brain and Behavior, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.940 (open access)

van der Wel, R., Welsh, T., & Böckler, A. (2018). Talking heads or talking eyes? Effects of head orientation and sudden onset gaze cues on attention capture. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1462-y (open access)

2017

Böckler*, A., Herrmann*, L., Trautwein, F.-M., Holmes, T. & Singer, T. (2017). Know thy Selves: Learning to understand oneself increases the ability to understand others. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0023-6 (open access)

Böckler*, A., Sharifi*, M., Kanske, P., Dziobek, I., & Singer, T. (2017). Social decision making in narcissism: Reduced generosity and increased retaliation are driven by alterations in perspective-taking and anger. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 1-7. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.020

Lumma, A.-L., Böckler, A., Vrticka, P., & Singer, T. (2017). Who am I? Differential effects of three contemplative mental trainings on emotional word use in self-descriptions. Self and Identity, 16(5), 607–628. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2017.1294107 (open access)

Valk, S. L., Bernhardt, B. C., Trautwein, F. M., Böckler, A., & Kanske, P., Guizard, N., ... & Singer, T. (2017). Structural plasticity of the social brain: Differential change after socio-affective and cognitive mental training. Science Advances, 3(10), e1700489. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700489 (open access)

2016

Böckler*, A., Kanske*, P., Trautwein, F. M., Lesemann, F. H. P., & Singer, T. (2016). Are strong empathizers better mentalizers? Evidence for independence and interaction between the routes of social cognition. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, nsw052. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw052 (open access)

Böckler, A., Tusche, A., & Singer, T. (2016). The structure of human prosociality: Differentiating altruistically motivated, norm motivated, strategically motivated and self-reported prosocial behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(6), 530-541. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/1948550616639650

Bornemann, B., Kok, B. E., Böckler, A., & Singer, T. (2016). Helping from the heart: Voluntary up-regulation of heart rate variability predicts altruistic behavior. Biological Psychology, 119, 54-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.07.004

Huestegge, L., & Böckler, A. (2016). Out of the corner of the driver's eye: Peripheral processing of hazards in static traffic scenes. Journal of Vision, 16(2), 11-11. https://doi.org/10.1167/16.2.11 (open access)

Molenberghs, P., Trautwein, F.-M., Böckler, A., Singer, T., & Kanske, P. (2016). Neural correlates of metacognitive ability and of feeling confident: A large scale fMRI study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, nsw093. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw093 (open access)

Tusche, A., Böckler, A., Kanske, P., Trautwein, F.-M., & Singer, T. (2016). Decoding the charitable brain: Empathy, perspective taking and attention shifts differentially predict altruistic giving. The Journal of Neuroscience, 36, 4719-4732. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3392-15.2016 (open access)

Valk, S., Bernhardt, B., Böckler, A., Kanske, P., & Singer, T. (2016). Substrates of metacognition on perception and metacognition on higher-order cognition relate to different subsystems of the mentalizing network. Human Brain Mapping, 37(10), 3388-3399. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23247 (open access)

Valk, S.L., Bernhardt, B., Böckler, A., Trautwein, F.-M., Kanske, P., & Singer, T. (2016). Socio-cognitive phenotypes differentially modulate large-scale structural covariance networks. Cerebral Cortex, bhv319. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhv319 (open access)

2015

Böckler, A., van der Wel, R., & Welsh, T. (2015). Eyes only? Perceiving eye contact is neither sufficient nor necessary for attentional capture by face direction. Acta Psychologica, 160, 134-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.07.009

Böckler*, A., Kanske*, P., Trautwein*, F.-M., & Singer, T. (2015). Dissecting the social brain: Introducing the EmpaToM to reveal distinct neural networks and brain-behavior relations for empathy and Theory of Mind. NeuroImage, 122, 6-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.082

Böckler, A., Eskenazi, T., Sebanz, N., & Rueschemeyer, S.-A. (2015). (How) observed eye-contact modulates gaze following. An fMRI study. Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(1-4), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/17588928.2015.1053442 (open access)

2014

Böckler, A., Timmermans, B., Sebanz, N., Vogeley, K., & Schilbach, L. (2014). Effects of observing eye contact on gaze following in high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(7), 1651-1658. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2038-5 (open access)

Böckler, A., Hömke, P., & Sebanz, N. (2014). Invisible man: Exclusion from shared attention affects gaze behavior and self-reports. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(2), 140-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550613488951

Böckler, A., van der Wel, R. P. R. D., & Welsh, T. N. (2014). Catching eyes: Effects of social and nonsocial cues on attention capture. Psychological Science, 25(3), 720-727. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613516147 

2013

Böckler, A., & Zwickel, J. (2013). Influences of spontaneous perspective taking on spatial and identity processing of faces. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(7), 735-740. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss061 (open access)

2012

Böckler, A., & Sebanz, N. (2012). A co-actor’s focus of attention affects attention allocation and stimulus processing: An EEG study. Social Neuroscience, 7(6), 565-577. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2012.682119

Böckler, A., Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2012). Effects of a coactor’s focus of attention on task performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(6), 1404-1415. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027523

2011

Böckler, A., Alpay, G., & Stürmer, B. (2011). Accessory stimuli affect prerequisites of conflict, not conflict control: A Simon-task ERP study. Experimental Psychology, 58(2), 102-109. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000073

Böckler, A., Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2011). Observing shared attention modulates gaze following. Cognition, 120(2), 292-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.05.002

Böckler, A., Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2011). Giving a helping hand: Effects of joint attention on mental rotation of body parts. Experimental Brain Research, 211(3-4), 531-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2625-z (open access)

Book chapters

2017

Böckler, A., Sebanz, N., Wilkinson, A., & Huber, L. (2017). Solving social coordination problems: From ants to apes. In S. Shepherd (Ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Neuroscience. New York: Rockefeller. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118316757.ch17 

2015

Kanske*, P., Böckler*, A., & Singer, T. (2015). Models, mechanisms and moderators dissociating empathy and Theory of Mind. In M. Wöhr, & S. Krach (Eds.), Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences – Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans: Neural Foundations and Clinical Implications. 10.1007/7854_2015_412

2013

Böckler, A., & Sebanz, N. (2013). Linking joint attention and joint action. In H. S. Terrace, & J. Metcalfe (Eds.), Agency and joint attention. (pp. 206-215). New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199988341.003.0013

2010

Böckler, A., Knoblich, G., & Sebanz, N. (2010). Socializing Cognition. In B. Glatzeder, V. Goel, & A. Mueller (Eds.), Perspectives on Thinking. Heidelberg: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03129-8 

 

To top