PhD Position - Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (Tübingen, Germany) The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics offers 2 PhD student positions under the supervision of Dr. Nelson Totah in the department of Prof. Nikos Logothetis (Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes). The projects will study the roles that attention and arousal play in learning and cognitive control. The learning task involves flexibly attending to visual and auditory stimuli. Students will record frontal cortex neurons and brain stem norepinephrine neurons from head-fixed rats during learning. We will also explore novel methods for activating the norepinephrine system to improve learning and cognition impairments in psychiatric disorders. Applicants should have a degree in neuroscience, biology, or experimental psychology. Candidates with a background in engineering, physics, or related fields are also encouraged to apply their skills to the analysis of neurophysiological data, but these applicants should also have interest in our ultimate goal of understanding behavior and cognition. Prior experience working with behaving rats or mice, programming (MATLAB), and a mathematical or computational background are all highly desirable in applicants, but not all required. English language fluency is required, but German language fluency is not required for laboratory work or classes. Students will join the International Max Planck Research School for Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience / Graduate Training Center of Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen (http://www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de/). The positions are fully funded for 3 years with extension for additional years possible. Applications should include a CV, a brief (up to 500 word) personal statement about research interests and goals after the PhD, and 2 letters of reference. These may be submitted by email to Dr. Totah (nelson.totah@tuebingen.mpg.de). Nelson Totah, PhD Research Group Leader Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics Tuebingen, Germany