Prof. Dr Thomas Reber

Vice-dean Programme direction for the German language Bachelor in Psychology and Master in Psychology Associate Professor

Documents

Curriculum Vitae

Thomas Reber obtained his PhD in psychology in 2012 from the University of Bern, Switzerland. He went to the Department of Epileptology at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 2013 as research fellow funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2018 he went on to join the UniDistance Suisse, where works as associate professor of psychology. His research investigates neural correlates and mechanisms of memory, perception, and awareness with a particular focus on the human medial temporal lobe. To this aim he uses intracranial EEG, human single units, as well as scalp EEG and fMRI.

News

Psychology

A new article from Prof. Thomas Reber published in Nature Communications

Research focus

In his research, Thomas Reber investigates the neural correlates of perception, memory, attention and consciousness. He develops cognitive experiments for use with healthy subjects, amnesics and epilepsy patients. Brain activity is measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), intracranial electroencephalography (EEG), and extracellular single-cell recordings in humans. At UniDistance Suisse, Thomas Reber incorporates findings from basic research into applied research on the use of information and communication technology to support learning processes.

Research projects

The role of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Education

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // Liechti Tobias

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.08.2026

End: 31.07.2029

Psychology

The role of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Education

Reber Thomas // Liechti Tobias

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.08.2026

End: 31.07.2029

Psychology

Assessment and Refinement of a Literacy-Course in AI and Neuroscience to Sup-port Learning and Teaching at UniDistance Suisse

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // Carbonel Henrietta // Belardi Angelo // Prosvirnieva Maria

Start: 01.02.2026

Psychology

Assessment and Refinement of a Literacy-Course in AI and Neuroscience to Sup-port Learning and Teaching at UniDistance Suisse

Reber Thomas // Carbonel Henrietta // Belardi Angelo // Prosvirnieva Maria

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.02.2026

Psychology

Effects of fluency on higher-order cognitive judgements

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // Schütze Julia // BIBERGER Thomas

Start: 01.08.2025

Psychology

Effects of fluency on higher-order cognitive judgements

Reber Thomas // Schütze Julia // BIBERGER Thomas

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.08.2025

Psychology

Psychophysics of Binaural Beats

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // Schütze Julia

Start: 01.08.2025

Psychology

Psychophysics of Binaural Beats

Reber Thomas // Schütze Julia

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.08.2025

Psychology

Modeling Neural Adaptation in the Medial Temporal Lobe

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: UniDistance Suisse | FernUni Schweiz

Matthias Voigt // Reber Thomas // Bartolini Diletta

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.10.2023

End: 30.09.2026

Mathematics

Modeling Neural Adaptation in the Medial Temporal Lobe

Matthias Voigt // Reber Thomas // Bartolini Diletta

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: UniDistance Suisse | FernUni Schweiz

Status: Ongoing

Start: 01.10.2023

End: 30.09.2026

Mathematics

Do human concept cells encode novel associations that support transitive inference?

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // Ruch Simon // MORMANN Florian // KUNZ Lukas

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

Do human concept cells encode novel associations that support transitive inference?

Reber Thomas // Ruch Simon // MORMANN Florian // KUNZ Lukas

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

Concept learning in the human brain

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Ruch Simon // Reber Thomas // Blanco-Cuaresma Sergi // MORMANN Florian // KUNZ Lukas

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

Concept learning in the human brain

Ruch Simon // Reber Thomas // Blanco-Cuaresma Sergi // MORMANN Florian // KUNZ Lukas

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

Workload and learning behaviour of distance learning students

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: UniDistance Suisse | FernUni Schweiz

Belardi Angelo // Reber Thomas // Rothen Nicolas // Martarelli Corinna

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

EDUDL+

Workload and learning behaviour of distance learning students

Belardi Angelo // Reber Thomas // Rothen Nicolas // Martarelli Corinna

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: UniDistance Suisse | FernUni Schweiz

Start: 01.01.2023

Psychology

EDUDL+

School of Tomorrow

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Rothen Nicolas // Reber Thomas // Ziogas Anastasios // Ruch Simon // SKIERESZ Nicole // MARCA Sandy C.

Status: Completed

Start: 01.10.2019

End: 30.09.2022

Psychology

School of Tomorrow

Rothen Nicolas // Reber Thomas // Ziogas Anastasios // Ruch Simon // SKIERESZ Nicole // MARCA Sandy C.

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Status: Completed

Start: 01.10.2019

End: 30.09.2022

Psychology

Oxytocin and percetual thresholds of emotional expressions

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // HURLEMANN René // SCHEELE Dirk // MORMANN Florian // Ziogas Anastasios

Start: 01.01.2016

Psychology

Oxytocin and percetual thresholds of emotional expressions

Reber Thomas // HURLEMANN René // SCHEELE Dirk // MORMANN Florian // Ziogas Anastasios

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2016

Psychology

Perceptual thresholds of object recognition with backward masking

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Reber Thomas // MORMANN Florian // Ziogas Anastasios

Start: 01.01.2013

Psychology

Perceptual thresholds of object recognition with backward masking

Reber Thomas // MORMANN Florian // Ziogas Anastasios

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Start: 01.01.2013

Psychology

Cognitive capacity in the presence of a smartphone

Approved amount: -

Funding scheme: -

Rothen Nicolas // Reber Thomas // Maalouli-Hartmann Matthias // Martarelli Corinna

Status: Completed

Start: 01.08.2018

End: 30.06.2019

Psychology

Cognitive capacity in the presence of a smartphone

Rothen Nicolas // Reber Thomas // Maalouli-Hartmann Matthias // Martarelli Corinna

Approved amount:-

Funding scheme: -

Status: Completed

Start: 01.08.2018

End: 30.06.2019

Psychology

Research groups

Cognitive Neurophysiology

Faculty of Psychology

Input-space geometry shapes adaptation dynamics underlying repetition suppression in a neural network model of relatedness priming

2026-09

DOI: 10.64898/2026.09.13.751213

Diletta Bartolini
Thomas P. Reber
Tatjana Tchumatchenko
Matthias Voigt

preprint

Brain Network Differences in Second Language Learning Depend on Individual Competencies

2026-09 | Imaging Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1162/IMAG.a.1379

Nicole H. Skieresz
Sandy C. Marca
Micah M. Murray
Thomas P. Reber
Nicolas Rothen

Journal article

Single‐Unit Activity in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe Reflects Reduced Error Monitoring During Mind Wandering

2026-09 | Hippocampus

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.70125

Thomas P. Reber
Leila Chaieb
Marlene Derner
Valeri Borger
Rainer Surges
Florian Mormann
Juergen Fell

Journal article

Human neuron activity during an 83-minute movie from 2,286 neurons and 29 patients

2026-07 | Scientific Data

DOI: 10.1038/s41597-026-07955-0

Alana Darcher
Franziska Gerken
Johannes Niediek
Marcel S. Kehl
Thomas P. Reber
Stefanie Liebe
Laura Nett
Attila Racz
Lukas Kunz
Bernhard Staresina
Rachel Rapp
Pedro J. Gonçalves
Ismail Elezi
Valeri Borger
Rainer Surges
Laura Leal-Taixé
Jakob H. Macke
Florian Mormann

Journal article

Test-retest reliability analysis of resting-state EEG measures and their association with long-term memory in children and adults

2026-04 | Imaging Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1162/IMAG.a.1224

Anastasios Ziogas
Simon Ruch
Nicole H. Skieresz
Sandy C. Marca
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber

Journal article

Sleep ripples drive single-neuron reactivation for human memory consolidation

2026-03

DOI: 10.64898/2026.03.27.714528

Marcel S. Kehl
Thomas P. Reber
Valeri Borger
Rainer Surges
Florian Mormann
Bernhard P. Staresina

preprint

Distinct neuronal populations in the human brain combine content and context

2026-02 | Nature

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09910-2

Marcel Bausch
Johannes Niediek
Thomas P. Reber
Sina Mackay
Jan Boström
Christian E. Elger
Florian Mormann

Journal article

Subliminal messages

2025-12

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/pravq_v2

Simon Ruch
Thomas Peter Reber

preprint

Proficiency-Dependent and Dynamic Reorganization of Brain Networks During Children’s Second Language Learning

2025-12

DOI: 10.64898/2025.12.10.693259

Nicole H. Skieresz
Sandy C. Marca
Micah M. Murray
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber

preprint

Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

2025-10

DOI: 10.1101/2025.10.21.682935

Katharina Karkowski
Marcel S. Kehl
Yingjie Qin
Alana Darcher
Philipp Karkowski
Valeri Borger
Rainer Surges
Martin N. Hebart
Thomas P. Reber
Stanislas Dehaene
Yair Lakretz
Florian Mormann

preprint

Brain Network Differences in Second Language Learning Depend on Individual Competencies

2025-09

DOI: 10.1101/2025.09.28.679014

Nicole H. Skieresz
Sandy C. Marca
Micah M. Murray
Thomas P. Reber
Nicolas Rothen

preprint

Decoding movie content from neuronal population activity in the human medial temporal lobe

2025-08

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.106758

Franziska Gerken
Alana Darcher
Pedro J Gonçalves
Rachel Rapp
Ismail Elezi
Johannes Niediek
Marcel S Kehl
Thomas P Reber
Stefanie Liebe
Jakob H Macke
Florian Mormann
Laura Leal-Taixé

preprint

Test-Retest Reliability Analysis of Resting-state EEG Measures and Their Association with Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults

2025-08

DOI: 10.1101/2025.08.04.668389

Anastasios Ziogas
Simon Ruch
Nicole H. Skieresz
Sandy C. Marca
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber

preprint

Correction: Spacing, feedback, and testing boost vocabulary learning in a web application.

2025-07 | Frontiers in psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1629682

Belardi A
Pedrett S
Rothen N
Reber TP

Journal article

Phase of firing does not reflect temporal order in sequence memory of humans and recurrent neural networks.

2025-03 | Nature neuroscience

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-01893-7

Liebe S
Niediek J
Pals M
Reber TP
Faber J
Boström J
Elger CE
Macke JH
Mormann F

Journal article

Subliminal messages

2024-09

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/pravq

Simon Ruch
Thomas Peter Reber

preprint

Effects of 5 Hz Auditory Beat Stimulation on Mind Wandering and Sustained Attention in an Online Experiment

2024-01 | Journal of Cognitive Enhancement

DOI: 10.1007/s41465-024-00290-5

Belardi, A.
Chaieb, L.
Fell, J.
Rothen, N.
Reber, T.P.

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Concept and location neurons in the human brain provide the ‘what’ and ‘where’ in memory formation

2024-01 | Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52295-5

Mackay, S.
Reber, T.P.
Bausch, M.
Boström, J.
Elger, C.E.
Mormann, F.

Journal article

Side effects of monaural beat stimulation during sustained mental work on mind wandering and performance measures

2024-01 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1375717

Schmidt, L.M.
Chaieb, L.
Derner, M.
Reber, T.P.
Fell, J.

Journal article

Correlates of implicit semantic processing as revealed by representational similarity analysis applied to EEG

2024-01 | iScience

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111149

Weber, V.
Ruch, S.
Skieresz, N.H.
Rothen, N.
Reber, T.P.

Journal article

Modulating prospective memory and attentional control with high-definition transcranial current stimulation: Study protocol of a randomized, double-blind, and sham-controlled trial in healthy older adults

2023-08 | PLOS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289532

Nadine Schmidt
Marta Menéndez-Granda
Ronya Münger
Thomas P. Reber
Ute J. Bayen
Fabian E. Gümüsdagli
Alexandra Hering
Emilie Joly-Burra
Matthias Kliegel
Jessica Peter

Journal article

A key role of the hippocampal P3 in the attentional blink

2023-05 | NeuroImage

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120028

T. P. Reber
Marlene Derner
Jennifer Faber
Rainer Surges
Florian Mormann
Juergen Fell

Journal article

Single-neuron mechanisms of neural adaptation in the human temporal lobe

2023-04 | Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38190-5

Thomas P. Reber
Sina Mackay
Marcel Bausch
Marcel S. Kehl
Valeri Borger
Rainer Surges
Florian Mormann

Journal article

A Meta-Analysis on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Applications: Benefits and Risks

2022-09 | Psychologica Belgica

DOI: 10.5334/pb.1146

Mariela Mihaylova
Simon Gorin
Thomas P. Reber
Nicolas Rothen

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

A key role of the hippocampal P3 in the attentional blink

2022-08

DOI: 10.1101/2022.08.08.502473

M Derner
TP Reber
J Faber
R Surges
F Mormann
J Fell

preprint

Modulation of Mind Wandering Using Monaural Beat Stimulation in Subjects With High Trait-Level Mind Wandering

2022-06 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.815442

Leila Chaieb
Sofie Krakau
Thomas P. Reber
Juergen Fell

Journal article

On the relationship between mind wandering and mindfulness

2022-05 | Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11594-x

Angelo Belardi
Leila Chaieb
Alodie Rey-Mermet
Florian Mormann
Nicolas Rothen
Juergen Fell
Thomas P. Reber

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for the Modulation of Mind Wandering

2022-01 | New Perspectives on Mind-Wandering

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-06955-0_8

Leila Chaieb
Thomas P. Reber
Sofie Krakau
Juergen Fell

Book chapter

Standardized database of 400 complex abstract fractals

2021-12 | Behavior Research Methods

DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01726-y

Rebecca Ovalle-Fresa
Sarah V Di Pietro
Thomas P Reber
Eleonora Balbi
Nicolas Rothen

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application

2021-11 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.757262

Angelo Belardi
Salome Pedrett
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas P. Reber

Journal article

Peer-reviewed

Concept neurons in the human medial temporal lobe flexibly represent abstract relations between concepts

2021-10 | Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26327-3

Marcel Bausch
Johannes Niediek
Thomas P. Reber
Sina Mackay
Jan Boström
Christian E. Elger
Florian Mormann

Journal article

Auditory beat stimulation modulates memory-related single-neuron activity in the human medial temporal lobe

2021-01 | Brain Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11030364

Derner, M.
Chaieb, L.
Dehnen, G.
Reber, T.P.
Borger, V.
Surges, R.
Staresina, B.P.
Mormann, F.
Fell, J.

Journal article

Does a smartphone on the desk drain our brain? No evidence of cognitive costs due to smartphone presence in a short-term and prospective memory task

2020-11 | Consciousness and Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103033

Journal article

Standardized database of 400 complex abstract fractals

2020-09

DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/uy9hk

Rebecca Ovalle-Fresa
Sarah Valérie Di Pietro
Thomas Peter Reber
Eleonora Balbi
Nicolas Rothen

preprint

Auditory beat stimulation modulates memory-related single-neuron activity in the human medial temporal lobe

2020-08

DOI: 10.1101/2020.08.27.268045

M Derner
L Chaieb
G Dehnen
TP Reber
V Borger
R Surges
BP Staresina
F Mormann
J Fell

preprint

A Meta-Analysis on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Applications: Benefits and Risks

2020-08

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ux93y

Mariela Mihaylova
Simon Gorin
Thomas Peter Reber
Nicolas Rothen

preprint

Patterns of single-neuron activity during associative recognition memory in the human medial temporal lobe.

2020-08 | NeuroImage

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117214

Journal article

Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application

2020-06

DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/yqsrx

Angelo Belardi
Salome Pedrett
Nicolas Rothen
Thomas Peter Reber

preprint

Erratum: Representation of abstract semantic knowledge in populations of human single neurons in the medial temporal lobe (PLoS Biol (2019) 17:6 (e3000290) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000290)

2020-01 | PLoS Biology

DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PBIO.3000753

Reber, T.P.
Bausch, M.
MacKay, S.
Boström, J.
Elger, C.E.
Mormann, F.

Journal article

Recollection in the human hippocampal-entorhinal cell circuitry

2019-12 | Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09558-3

Journal article

Representation of abstract semantic knowledge in populations of human single neurons in the medial temporal lobe

2019-06 | PLOS Biology

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000290

T. P. Reber
Marcel Bausch
Sina Mackay
Jan Boström
Christian E. Elger
Florian Mormann

Journal article

TV vs. YouTube: TV Advertisements Capture More Visual Attention, Create More Positive Emotions and Have a Stronger Impact on Implicit Long-Term Memory

2019-03 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00626

Journal article

Educational App-Development needs to be informed by the Cognitive Neurosciences of Learning & Memory

2018-12 | npj Science of Learning

DOI: 10.1038/s41539-018-0039-4

Journal article

Cue discriminability predicts instrumental conditioning

2018-05 | Consciousness and Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.013

Thomas P. Reber
Bita Samimizad
Florian Mormann

Journal article

Mind wandering simultaneously prolongs reactions and promotes creative incubation

2017-08 | Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-10616-3

Marcin Leszczynski
Leila Chaieb
Thomas P. Reber
Marlene Derner
Nikolai Axmacher
Juergen Fell

Journal article

Memory, Consciousness & the Hippocampus

2017-04 | Before Consciousness

Book chapter

Single-Neuron Correlates of Conscious Perception in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

2017-01 | Current Biology

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.025

Reber, T.P.
Faber, J.
Niediek, J.
Boström, J.
Elger, C.E.
Mormann, F.

Journal article

Intracranial EEG correlates of implicit relational inference within the hippocampus

2016-01 | Hippocampus

DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22490

Reber, T.P.
Do Lam, A.T.A.
Axmacher, N.
Elger, C.E.
Helmstaedter, C.
Henke, K.
Fell, J.

Journal article

Auditory Beat Stimulation and its Effects on Cognition and Mood States

2015-05 | Frontiers in Psychiatry

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00070

Journal article

Hippocampus is place of interaction between unconscious and conscious memories

2015-01 | PLoS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122459

Züst, M.A.
Colella, P.
Reber, T.P.
Vuilleumier, P.
Hauf, M.
Ruch, S.
Henke, K.

Journal article

Detecting analogies unconsciously

2014-01 | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00009

Reber, T.P.
Luechinger, R.
Boesiger, P.
Henke, K.

Journal article

Unconscious relational encoding depends on hippocampus

2014-01 | Brain

DOI: 10.1093/brain/awu270

Duss, S.B.
Reber, T.P.
Hänggi, J.
Schwab, S.
Wiest, R.
Müri, R.M.
Brugger, P.
Gutbrod, K.
Henke, K.

Journal article

Integrating events across levels of consciousness

2013-01 | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00068

Henke, K.
Reber, T.P.
Duss, S.B.

Journal article

Sleep stage II contributes to the consolidation of declarative memories

2012-08 | Neuropsychologia

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.06.008

Journal article

Integrating unseen events over time

2012-01 | Consciousness and Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.02.013

Reber, T.P.
Henke, K.

Journal article

Unconscious relational inference recruits the hippocampus

2012-01 | Journal of Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5639-11.2012

Henke, K.
Reber, T.P.
Luechinger, R.
Boesiger, P.

Journal article

Formation of semantic associations between subliminally presented face-word pairs

2011-01 | Consciousness and Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.03.018

Duss, S.B.
Oggier, S.
Reber, T.P.
Henke, K.

Journal article

Rapid formation and flexible expression of memories of subliminal word pairs

2011-01 | Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00343

Reber, T.P.
Henke, K.

Journal article

The Impact of Communication Modality on Perceived Credibility of Panel Members

2010-03 | Electronic News

DOI: 10.1177/1931243110361584

Journal article

Teaching

K2	Messung und Modellierung neuronaler Mechanismen kognitiver Prozesse Master of Science in Psychology
M08	Methoden III: Experimentelle Übungen Bachelor of Science in Psychology
M4	Online-Studien implementieren Master of Science in Psychology