Member of the Perception and Action Lab

Since October 2020, Ekaterina Varkentin is working as a research scientist and PhD student in the Perception and Action lab at the IWM. In her research she focuses on the comprehension processes in visual narratives (comics). For example, she investigates whether comprehension processes are comparable across different forms of representation. In her dissertation project, she investigates various factors (psychological and medical) which can affect comprehension of text and image narratives. For example, she is interested how narrative understanding looks like in elderly participants or in people suffering from depressive symptoms and other illnesses. She also wants to explore whether narrative comprehension changes under acute stress. She also examines which factors (sport, mental fitness, and stable social contacts) have a positive effect on narrative comprehension. In cooperation with the TREND study at the University Hospital Tübingen, the gained results should expand our knowledge of narrative comprehension in the different groups.Ekaterina Varkentin studied Psychology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) in Moscow, Russia (B.Sc. 2014) and School psychology at the University of Tübingen (M.Sc. 2019) and focused on cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and memory. During her studies, she completed a research internship at the University of Tübingen in clinical psychology. She also worked in the University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Tübingen in the field of diagnostics and assessment.