Karl R. Gegenfurtner

Prof. Dr. Karl R. Gegenfurtner is a full Professor for General Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. He has held this position since 2001 and leads a prominent research group on visual perception. His work bridges low-level sensory processing with higher cognitive functions and motor control.

Education:

• Psychology Student at the University of Regensburg, Diploma in Psychology, 1986
• Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, New York University, 1990
• Postdoc at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Center for Neural Science, NYU, 1990–1993
• Research Scientist at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, 1993–2000
• Habilitation in Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, 1998
• Professor for Biological Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, 2000–2001

His research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms of visual perception, particularly color vision, object recognition, eye movements, and sensorimotor integration. He investigates how humans perceive complex scenes and objects in natural environments, how these are represented in the brain, and how visual information guides motor actions. His recent work explores topics such as color categorization in neural networks, lightness perception, dynamic size recalibration, and the role of eye movements in perceptual decisions.

The 15 most recent articles reflect a strong trend toward understanding perception in real-world contexts, integrating computational modeling, psychophysics, and neuroscientific methods. Key themes include color and shape perception, attention, eye movement control, and the interplay between perception and action.

Scientific Awards:

• Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2015)
• Wilhelm Wundt Medal, German Society for Psychology (2016)
• Palmer Lecture, Colour Group (UK) (2019)
• Turrell Lecture Berlin (2019)
• Russell Devalois Memorial Lecture, UC Berkeley (2024)
• ICVS Verriest Medal (2024)
• Pineapple Science Award (2024)

Prof. Gegenfurtner has supervised numerous research projects and training networks, including the DFG Collaborative Research Center TRR 135 on 'Cardinal mechanisms of perception' and the International Research Training Group BrainAct. He has received major funding, including an ERC Advanced Grant (2020) for 'Color 3.0'. He has served on editorial boards of top journals such as Journal of Vision, Vision Research, and Psychological Review, and was President of the Vision Science Society (2012–2013). He is actively involved in academic service, including the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s fellowship selection committee.

He leads the Visual Perception research group at Giessen, which investigates cortical mechanisms of vision, perception of natural scenes, and the integration of sensory and motor information. The lab employs psychophysical experiments, eye tracking, computational modeling, and neuroimaging to study perception in ecologically valid settings.