Christian Beste successfully habilitated on the 10th of July 2012 in the Faculty of Psychology for “Cognitive Neuroscience”. His written thesis was already impressive by its coverage, depth, and publication quality. Now, he performed equally well with his oral presentation on “Effortless Learning: Fact or Fiction”. Christian could show that mere, high-frequency exposure learning can create an LTP-like process that dramatically increases the probability to detect certain stimuli. Conversely, an LTD-like training protocol decreases stimulus detection. Thus, effortless learning seems to work and thus is a fact. However, Christian also revealed that it is fiction to hope for a generalized effortless learning ability. Altogether, this was a very strong presentation and the committee unanimously decided that Christian Beste should be awarded with the habilitation of the Faculty of Psychology.

CONGRATULATIONS CHRISTIAN !!!