Dr. Anoushiravan Zahedi

post-doctoral student
Institut für Psychologie
Fliednerstraße 21
D-48149 Münster
room Fl 315
phone: +49 (0) 251 / 83 34192

E-Mail: azahedi@uni-muenster.de

Academic CV

2022-
Postdoc fellow at the bio-psychology lab (P.I. Prof. Dr. Ricarda I. Schubotz),
University of Münster

2021-2022
Postdoc fellowship at (1) Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (corporate
member of Freie University Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, and Berlin
Institute of Health) (2) the German Institute of Human Nutrition
(DIfE), Department of Decision Neuroscience and Nutrition

2016-2021
Ph.D. of Psychology at the Humboldt University of Berlin under the supervision of
Prof. Dr. Werner Sommer and Prof. Dr. Birgit Stürmer. Thesis title: "Hypnotic
Suggestions: Their Nature and Applicability in Studying Executive Functions."

2014-2016
Master of Science in Psychology at the University of Tehran

2008-2014
Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering at the AmirKabir University of
Tehran

Academic Interests

⦁   Predictive coding
⦁   Executive functions
⦁   Cognitive control
⦁   Consciousness
⦁   Decision making
⦁   Perception
⦁   Suggestions
⦁   Placebo and nocebo
⦁   Hypnosis

Publications

Zahedi, A., Herkströter, F., Standke, I., Dannlowski, U., Lencer, R., Schubotz, R.I., Trempler, I. (2024). Grey Matter Matters: Cognitive Stability and Flexibility in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder. Psychophysiology PsyP-2023-0711.R2

Mecklenbrauck, F., Gruber, M., Siestrup, S., Zahedi, A., Grotegerd, D., Mauritz, M., Trempler, I., Dannlowski, U., Schubotz, R. I. (2023). The significance of structural rich club hubs for the processing of hierarchical stimuli. Hum Brain Mapp. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26543

Zahedi, A., Artigas, S. O., Swaboda, N., Wiers, C. E., Gorgen, K., & Park, S. Q. (2023). Neural correlates of changing food choices while bypassing values. Neuroimage, 274, 120134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120134

Lynn, S. J., Green, J. P., Zahedi, A., & Apelian, C. (2023). The response set theory of hypnosis reconsidered: toward an integrative model. Am J Clin Hypn, 65(3), 186-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029157.2022.2117680

Katembu, S., Zahedi, A., & Sommer, W. (2023). Childhood trauma and violent behavior in adolescents are differentially related to cognitive-emotional deficits. Frontiers in Public Health, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1001132

Zahedi, A., Öznur Akalin, R., Lawrence, J. E., Baumann, A., & Sommer, W. (2023). The nature and persistence of the effects of posthypnotic suggestions on food preferences: The final report of an online study. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1123907

Zahedi, A., Lynn, S. J., & Sommer, W. (preprint). How Hypnotic Suggestions Work – A Systematic Review of Prominent Theories of Hypnosis. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mp9bs

Zahedi, A., Öznur Akalin, R., Lawrence, J. E., Baumann, A., & Sommer, W. (2022). The Nature and Persistence of Posthypnotic Suggestions' Effects on Food Preferences: An Online Study. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.859656

Zahedi, A., & Sommer, W. (2022). Can hypnotic susceptibility be explained by bifactor models? Structural equation modeling of the Harvard group scale of hypnotic susceptibility - Form A. Consciousness and Cognition, 99, 103289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2022.103289

Zahedi, A., Stürmer, B., & Sommer, W. (2020). Can posthypnotic suggestions boost updating in working memory? Behavioral and ERP evidence. Neuropsychologia, 148, 107632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107632

Zahedi, A., Luczak, A., & Sommer, W. (2020). Modification of food preferences by posthypnotic suggestions: An event-related brain potential study. Appetite, 151, 104713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104713

Zahedi, A., Abdel Rahman, R., Stürmer, B., & Sommer, W. (2019). Common and specific loci of Stroop effects in vocal and manual tasks, revealed by event-related brain potentials and posthypnotic suggestions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148(9), 1575-1594. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000574

Zahedi, A., Stuermer, B., Hatami, J., Rostami, R., & Sommer, W. (2017). Eliminating Stroop effects with posthypnotic instructions: Brain mechanisms inferred from EEG. Neuropsychologia, 96, 70-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.006

projects

Mental Flexibility-Stability through the lens of Baseline Brain Activity - BASTAFLEX

Our brain constantly compares its predictive models with feedback from reality rather than idly waiting for stimuli. These predictive models should simultaneously be stable to prevent premature prediction abandonment when encountering noise and flexible to get updated based on prediction errors. The current study examines the relationship between cognitive stability-flexibility and baseline brain activity (BBA) using microstates extracted from EEG. Microstates are global patterns of scalp topographies that rapidly and discretely vary over time and can be calculated from resting-state (RS-EEG) and task EEG. Based on a priori power analysis, 100 participants will be recruited who will first undergo RS-EEG and then perform several tasks that measure stability-flexibility while EEG is being recorded. We hypothesize that if BBA can measure an individual's mental stability-flexibility, then the behavioral task performance and task microstates derived from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) should be predictable by RS-microstates. By conducting multilevel Bayesian generalized linear modeling, we will test these hypotheses.

Why do we want the apple but choose the chips? - AATEC

Current theories of decision-making suggest that option valuation and action selection are distinguished from each other, where the latter is a mechanical procedure that follows the former without any constructive feedback between these two components. However, this theoretical separation between action selection and valuation is challenged when considering that learning methods focusing on action selection without considering associated values, i.e., nonreinforced learning, can ultimately affect choices. These findings beg the question of whether these two procedures rely on two distinguishable but interacting systems, one focusing predominantly on stimulus-action contingencies (SAC) and the other on stimulus-outcome contingencies (SOC). In the current study using two commonly employed learning techniques, one focusing on nonreinforced learning and the other on reinforced learning, we want to investigate the nature and interaction between SACs and SOCs and their underpinning neural circuits.