Max Rabe
Cognitive Scientist
About Me
Hi, I'm Max Rabe. I'm a postdoctoral researcher in Cognitive Science. My work focuses on understanding the human mind through rigorous methodology, computational modeling, and data-driven insights. Most of my work has investigated cognitive phenomena of memory, visual attention, and reading. Below you can find an overview of my academic journey, experiences, and scientific publications.
Curriculum Vitae
| 06/2026 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Computational Brain & Behavior, Society for Mathematical Psychology Learn more | |
| 04/2026 – 09/2026 | Selection committee member, PhD Fellowships, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Learn more | |
| 01/2026 – 06/2029 | Board member, Integrated Graduate School (MGK), CRC 1287 “Limits of Variability in Language”, University of Potsdam Learn more | |
| 01/2026 – 12/2026 | KoUP Cooperation Funding, University of Potsdam Learn more | |
| 10/2025 – 03/2026 | Lecture (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to scientific work”, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2025 – 03/2026 | Lecture (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to psychology and its research methods”, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2025 – 03/2026 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to statistiscal programming with R”, University of Potsdam | |
| 05/2025 – 09/2025 | Parental leave | |
| 04/2025 – 09/2025 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Experimental psychological training”, University of Potsdam | |
| 03/2025 | Attended Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (TeaP) 2025, Frankfurt (Main), Germany | |
| 12/2024 – (current) | ERASMUS+ coordinator (outgoing), Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam Learn more | |
| 11/2024 | Attended Psychonomic Society 2024 Annual Meeting, New York City, NY, USA | |
| 10/2024 – 03/2025 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to statistical programming with R”, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2024 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Behavior Research Methods, Psychonomic Society Learn more | |
| 10/2024 – (current) | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2024 – 03/2025 | Seminar (graduate level) on “Hierarchical linear and logistic regression”, University of Potsdam | |
| 09/2024 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Journal of Memory and Language, Elsevier Learn more | |
| 09/2024 – 12/2024 | Seminar (graduate level) on “Experimental Methods 2”, University of Copenhagen | |
| 06/2024 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Cognitive Psychology, Elsevier Learn more | |
| 04/2024 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, Taylor & Francis Learn more | |
| 04/2024 | UFSKW Paper of the Month April 2024, Research Focus Cognitive Sciences (UFSKW), University of Potsdam Learn more | |
| 02/2024 – (current) | Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Copenhagen | |
| 05/2018 – 01/2024 | Ph.D., Cognitive Science, University of Potsdam | |
| 11/2023 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Psychological Review, APA Learn more | |
| 10/2023 – 01/2024 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to statistical programming with R”, University of Potsdam | |
| 04/2023 – 09/2023 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to Human Memory”, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2022 – 03/2023 | Seminar (undergraduate level) on “Introduction to statistical programming with R”, University of Potsdam | |
| 13/09/2022 | Tutorial on “Dynamical modeling of eye movements in reading”, Statistical Methods for Linguistics and Psychology (SMLP) 2022, University of Potsdam | |
| 09/2022 – 10/2022 | Parental leave | |
| 02/2022 – 07/2022 | Parental leave | |
| 11/2021 | Attended Psychonomic Society 2021 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA (virtual) | |
| 11/2021 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Cognition, Elsevier Learn more | |
| 21/07/2021 – 22/07/2021 | Workshop on “Contrast coding using linear regression with hypr”, EMS-SCS 2021, St. Petersburg, Russia (virtual) Learn more | |
| 07/2021 | UFSKW Paper of the Month July/August 2021, Research Focus Cognitive Sciences (UFSKW), University of Potsdam Learn more | |
| 06/2020 – (current) | Ad-hoc selection committee member, Outgoing student applications for Australian, Canadian, and US partner universities, University of Potsdam | |
| 06/2020 | Attended SFB 1287 MGK Project Week, University of Potsdam, Germany (online) | |
| 06/2020 – (current) | Ad-hoc reviewer, Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS), Open Journals Learn more | |
| 05/2020 | Attended repliCATS workshop, University of Melbourne, Australia (online) | |
| 02/2020 | Attended 14th BremHLR Workshop on Parallel Programming with MPI and OpenMP, BremHLRN, University of Bremen, Germany | |
| 08/11/2019 | Invited talk “Dynamical cognitive modeling: Bayesian inference of the SWIFT model”, University of Victoria, BC, Canada | |
| 11/2019 | Attended Psychonomic Society 60th Annual Meeting, Montréal, QC, Canada | |
| 13/09/2019 | Lecture on “Bayesian inference of the SWIFT model: Lecture on Dynamical Cognitive Modeling”, SMLP 2019, Potsdam, Germany Learn more | |
| 09/2019 | Attended 3rd Statistical Methods for Linguists and Psychologists (SMLP), University of Potsdam, Germany | |
| 09/2019 | Attended Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) 2019, Berlin, Germany Learn more | |
| 08/2019 | Attended European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM) 2019, Alicante, Spain | |
| 06/2019 | Attended Conference for Research Software Engineers in Germany 2019 (deRSE19), Potsdam, Germany | |
| 03/2019 | Attended Statistics for Big Data, Free University of Berlin, Germany | |
| 03/2019 | Attended 2nd SFB 1294 Spring School on Data Assimilation, Dierhagen, Germany | |
| 02/2019 | Attended SFB 1294 Python Workshop, Potsdam, Germany | |
| 11/2018 | Selection committee member, Study Scholarship for North America 2019/20, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) | |
| 11/2018 – 09/2020 | Student Representative, Senate Commission on Research and Junior Scientists, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2018 | Attended HLRN-IV user workshop, University of Göttingen, Germany | |
| 09/2018 | Attended 2nd Statistical Methods for Linguists and Psychologists (SMLP), Bayesian track, University of Potsdam, Germany | |
| 04/2018 – (current) | Campus Representative, APS Student Caucus | |
| 09/2016 – 04/2018 | M.Sc., Psychology (Cognition and Brain Science), University of Victoria | |
| 01/2018 – 01/2024 | Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Potsdam | |
| 11/2017 | Attended Psychonomic Society 58th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada | |
| 09/2017 – 08/2018 | Graduate Fellowship, University of Victoria Learn more | |
| 05/2017 | Attended Northwest Cognition and Memory (NOWCAM), Burnaby, BC, Canada | |
| 03/2017 – 04/2019 | Ad-hoc peer reviewer, Student Research Award, APS | |
| 01/2017 – 04/2017 | Teaching Assistant, University of Victoria | |
| 11/2016 | Attended Psychonomic Society 57th Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, USA | |
| 09/2016 – 04/2018 | Graduate Study Scholarship, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Learn more | |
| 10/2012 – 08/2016 | B.Sc., Psychology, University of Potsdam | |
| 10/2015 – 08/2016 | Teaching/Laboratory Assistant, University of Potsdam | |
| 06/2015 – 08/2016 | Director of Communication, Psychology Students Union, University of Potsdam | |
| 01/2015 – 04/2015 | Research Internship, University of Victoria | |
| 01/2015 – 04/2015 | PROMOS Scholarship, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Learn more | |
| 06/2014 – 08/2016 | Research Assistant, University of Victoria |
Publications
- Rabe, M. M.
& Kyllingsbæk, S. (2026). Enhancing TVA with Bayesian methods: A tutorial and new insights into computational modeling of visual attention using RStanTVA. Manuscript submitted for publication. DOI PsyArXiv - Granziol, U. , Rabe, M. M. , Gallucci, M., Spoto, A. , & Vidotto, G. (2025). Not another post-hoc paper: A new look at contrast analysis and planned comparisons. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 8(1). 17 Citations DOI
- Granziol, U. , Rabe, M. M. , Spoto, A. , Vidotto, G. , & Gallucci, M. (2025). appRiori: Code and Obtain Customized Planned Comparisons with 'appRiori' [R package].
- Rabe, M. M. & Kyllingsbæk, S. (2025). RStanTVA: TVA Models in 'Stan' using 'R' and 'StanTVA' [R package].
- Rabe, M. M. & Kyllingsbæk, S. (March 2025). Is the Future of TVA Bayesian?. Talk presented at Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (TeaP) 2025, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Engbert, R. & Rabe, M. M. (2024). Tutorial on dynamical modeling of eye movements in reading. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 119, Article 102843. DOI PsyArXiv
- Rabe, M. M. & Kyllingsbæk, S. (November 2024). Enhancing TVA with Bayesian methods using RStanTVA: New insights into computational modeling of visual attention. Poster presented at MathPsych @Psychonomics Satellite Meeting 2024, New York City, NY, USA. URL DOI
- Rabe, M. M. , Paape, D. , Mertzen, D. , Vasishth, S. , & Engbert, R. (2024). SEAM: An integrated activation-coupled model of sentence processing and eye movements in reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 135, Article 104496. 36 Citations DOI arXiv
- Rabe, M. M. (2024). Modeling the interaction of sentence processing and eye-movement control in reading (Ph.D.). Supervisors: R. Engbert and S. Vasishth . Universität Potsdam, Germany. DOI URN PDF
- Engbert, R. , Rabe, M. M. , Kliegl, R. , & Reich, S. (2021). Sequential data assimilation of the SEIR model for COVID-19. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 83, Article 1 (2021). 143 Citations DOI medRxiv PDF
- Engbert, R. , Rabe, M. M. , Schwetlick, L. , Seelig, S. A. , Reich, S. , & Vasishth, S. (2021). Data assimilation in dynamical cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Science, 26(2), 99–102. 14 Citations DOI
- Rabe, M. M. , Chandra, J. , Krügel, A. , Seelig, S. A. , Vasishth, S. , & Engbert, R. (2021). A Bayesian approach to dynamical modeling of eye-movement control in reading of normal, mirrored, and scrambled texts. Psychological Review, 128(5), 803–823. 33 Citations DOI PsyArXiv
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- Rabe, M. M. , Paape, D. , Vasishth, S. , & Engbert, R. (November 2021). SEAM: An integrated activation-coupled model of sentence processing and eye movements in reading. Poster presented at Psychonomic Society 62nd Annual Meeting (virtual).
- Rabe, M. M. , Vasishth, S. , Hohenstein, S. , Kliegl, R. , & Schad, D. J. (2020). hypr: An R package for hypothesis-driven contrast coding. The Journal of Open Source Software, 5(48), Article 2134. 58 Citations DOI PDF
- Seelig, S. A. , Rabe, M. M. , Malem-Shinitski, N. , Risse, S. , Reich, S. , & Engbert, R. (2020). Bayesian parameter estimation for the SWIFT model of eye-movement control during reading. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 95, Article 102313. 40 Citations DOI arXiv PDF
- Rabe, M. M. , Chandra, J. , Krügel, A. , Seelig, S. A. , & Engbert, R. (November 2019). Bayesian inference of dynamical cognitive and oculomotor processes in the SWIFT model of reading. Poster presented at Psychonomic Society 60th Annual Meeting, Montréal, QC, Canada. DOI PDF
- Rabe, M. M. , Chandra, J. , Krügel, A. , Seelig, S. A. , & Engbert, R. (August 2019). Bayesian inference of the SWIFT model: Reading mirrored, scrambled, and normal texts. Poster presented at European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM) 2019, Alicante, Spain. DOI PDF
- Rabe, M. M. , Kliegl, R. , & Schad, D. J. (2019). designr: Balanced factorial designs with crossed random and fixed factors [R package]. URL
- Rabe, M. M. , Schad, D. J. , Vasishth, S. , & Kliegl, R. (2019). hypr: Hypothesis matrix translation [R package]. URL
- Rabe, M. M. (November 2019). Eye-movement control during reading: Bayesian parameter inference of the dynamical SWIFT model. Invited talk presented at University of Victoria, BC, Canada.
- Seelig, S. A. , Rabe, M. M. , Malem-Shinitski, N. , Reich, S. , & Engbert, R. (September 2019). Bayesian parameter estimation for the SWIFT model of eye-movement control during reading. Poster presented at Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) 2019, Berlin, Germany. DOI
- Rabe, M. M. , Seelig, S. A. , Chandra, J. , Vasishth, S. , Reich, S. , & Engbert, R. (March 2019). Parameter inference and model comparison in dynamical cognitive models: SWIFT. Poster presented at 2nd SFB 1294 Data Assimilation Spring School, Dierhagen, Germany. PDF
- Rabe, M. M. (2018). Generalized linear mixed modeling of Signal Detection Theory (Master of Science). Supervisors: D. S. Lindsay , M. E. J. Masson , and A. Krawitz. University of Victoria, BC, Canada. 4 Citations HDL OCLC PDF
- Masson, M. E. J. , Rabe, M. M. , & Kliegl, R. (2017). Modulation of additive and interactive effects by trial history revisited. Memory & Cognition, 45(3), 480–492. 9 Citations DOI PDF
- Rabe, M. M. , Kliegl, R. , & Lindsay, D. S. (November 2017). A Generalized linear mixed model approach to signal detection theory in recognition memory experiments. Poster presented at Psychonomic Society 58th Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
- Rabe, M. M. , Kliegl, R. , & Lindsay, D. S. (May 2017). Generalized linear mixed model of signal detection theory. Poster presented at NOWCAM, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
- Fallow, K. M. , Rabe, M. M. , & Lindsay, D. S. (November 2015). Recognition memory response bias for paintings, words, and faces. Poster presented at Psychonomic Society 56th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Rabe, M. M. (2015). Mixed model analysis of trial history in naming experiments (Bachelor of Science). Supervisors: R. Kliegl and M. E. J. Masson . Universität Potsdam, Germany. URN DNB OCLC PDF