Head of department

Prof. Dr. Matthias Brand

Department of General Psychology: Cognition
Department of Human-Centered Computing and Cognitive Science
Faculty for Computer Science

University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg Campus
Forsthausweg 2
47057 Duisburg
Germany

E-Mail: matthias.brand[at]uni-due.de 
matthias.brand[at]cognition-ude.de

Office hours: by appointment - register for an appointment with Cordula Yallaho
Room: LE 235

List of Publications

Google Scholar Profile

Scientific Degrees

2005                             

Habilitation in Psychology,
University of Bielefeld, Germany.
Habilitation thesis: Frontal lobe functions and dysfunctions: The role of the prefrontal cortex in memory, emotion and decision-making in neurological and psychiatric patients.
2001         

Dr. rer. nat.,
University of Bielefeld, Germany.
Doctoral thesis: Cognitive estimation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and Wernicke-Korsakoff’s patients.
1999 Diploma in Psychology,
University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany.

Professional Career

since 2024 Full professor status in the Faculty of Medicine (dual affiliation), University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
since 2020 Spokesperson of the DFG Research Unit FOR2974 Affective and Cognitive Mechanisms of Specific Internet Use Disorders (ACSID) 
since 2015 Head of the Center for Behavioral Addiction Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
since 2009 Full Professor of General Psychology: Cognition, University of Duisburg-Essen,Germany
since 2009 Director of the Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Essen, Germany.
2007 - 2009 Associate Professor (Akademischer Oberrat) University of Bielefeld, Germany.
2006 - 2007 Deputy for the position of a Full Professor of Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld (deputy of Prof. Dr. Hans J. Markowitsch), Germany.
2004 Visiting scholar at the Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA (Prof. Antonio Damasio, Prof. Antoine Bechara, scholarship from the Gustav-Lienert Foundation).
2001 - 2007 Assistant Professor, University of Bielefeld, Germany.
2000 - 2001 Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Department of Neuropsychology, Cologne.
1999 - 2000 Research and Teaching Assistant with Prof. Dr. Hans J. Markowitsch, Physiological Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany.

Academic Distinctions (selected)

2025 Highly Ranked Scholar Lifetime in the Specialty Addiction, ScholarGPS
2025 Best Paper Bronze Prize of the International Society for Sexual Medicine
2024 Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field, Clarivate/Web of Science
2024 Keynote speaker at the International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA), Gibraltar
2023 Great Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Addictions
2017 Keynote speaker at the International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA), Haifa, Israel
2017 Article of the year in Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity
2016 Keynote speaker at the International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA), Geneva, Switzerland
2016 Member of expert group on preventive measures with respect to Internet-related disorders on behalf of the Drug Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany
2014 Call for W3-Professorship for “Biological/Physiological Psychology” at Bielefeld University, Germany (rejected)
2010 Most cited Article 2006–2010 in Neural Networks

Activities in the Research System (selected)

since 2025 Research Representative of the Faculty of Computer Science, University of   Duisburg-Essen
since 2025 Member of the writing group of the Lancet Psychiatry Commission on problematic usage of the internet (lead: Prof. Naomi A. Fineberg)
2025 Guest Editor of the special issue “Controversial topics in addictive behaviours: Position papers” for Addictive Behaviors Reports (together with Dr. Silke M. Müller and Prof. Silvia Casale)
2024 Member of the writing group of the AWMF Guidelines on internet use disorders (lead: Prof. Hans-Jürgen Rumpf)
since 2023 PI and work package lead in the EU Horizon project BootStRaP
since 2021 Member of the Senate of the University of Duisburg-Essen
since 2021 Member of the Advisory Board of the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming (CERG), University of Gibraltar
2019 - 2020 Guest Editor of the special issue “Affective and cognitive processes involved in behavioral addictions” for Addictive Behaviors (together with Dr. Elisa Wegmann)
since 2018 Member of the Editorial Board of Addictive Behaviors
2018 President of the International Conference on Behavioral Addictions (ICBA), Cologne, Germany
since 2017 Board Member of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Addictions (ISSBA)
since 2017 Associate Editor of the Journal of Behavioral Addictions
2017 - 2022 Member of the Management Committee of the COST (Collaboration in Science and Technology) Action “European Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet” representing Germany
2014 - 2018 Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology

Selected publications

  1. Antons, S., Müller, S. M., Thomas, T. A., Schmid, A. M., Kessling, A., Joshi, M., Krikova, K., Kampa, M., Mallon, L., Schmidt, L. D., Klein, L., Dominick, N., Büsche, K., Oelker, A., Brandtner, A., Montag, C., Wölfling, K., Wolf, O. T., Klucken, T., Rumpf, H.-J., Steins-Loeber, S., Stark, R., Müller, A., Diers, M., Wegmann, E., & Brand, M. (2025). Cue-reactivity towards distal cues in specific types of problematic usage of the Internet: Findings from diagnostically validated samples. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10379
  2. Brand, M., Antons, S., Bőthe, B., Demetrovics, Z., Fineberg, N. A., Jimenez-Murcia, S., King, D. L., Mestre-Bach, G., Moretta, T., Müller, A., Wegmann, E., & Potenza, M. N. (2025). Current advances in behavioral addictions: From fundamental research to clinical practice. American Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 155–163. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20240092
  3. Brand, M., Müller, A., Wegmann, E., Antons, S., Brandtner, A., Müller, S. M., Stark, R., Steins-Loeber, S., & Potenza, M. N. (2025). Current interpretations of the I-PACE model of behavioral addictions. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 14, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2025.00020
  4. Müller, S. M., Antons, S., Schmid, A. M., Thomas, T. A., Kessling, A., Joshi, M., Krikova, K., Kampa, M., Mallon, L., Schmidt, L. D., Klein, L., Dominick, N., Büsche, K., Oelker, A., Brandtner, A., Montag, C., Wölfling, K., Wolf, O. T., Diers, M., Klucken, T., Rumpf, H. J., Stark, R., Müller, A., Wegmann, E., Steins-Loeber, S., & Brand, M. (2025). Self-control abilities in specific types of problematic usage of the Internet: Findings from clinically validated samples with neurocognitive tasks. American Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 660–670. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20240486
  5. Brand, M. (2022). Can internet use become addictive? Science, 376, 798–799. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn4189
  6. Trotzke, P., Starcke, K., Pedersen, A., & Brand, M. (2021). Dorsal and ventral striatum activity in individuals with buying-shopping disorder during cue-exposure: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Addiction Biology, 26, e13073. https://doi.org/10.1111/adb.13073
  7. Brand, M., Wegmann, E., Stark, R., Müller, A., Wölfling, K., Robbins, T. W., & Potenza, M. N. (2019). The Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model for addictive behaviors: Update, generalization to addictive behaviors beyond Internet-use disorders, and specification of the process character of addictive behaviors. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 104, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.06.032
  8. Brand, M., Snagowski, J., Laier, C., & Maderwald, S. (2016). Ventral striatum activity when watching preferred pornographic pictures is correlated with symptoms of Internet pornography addiction. NeuroImage, 129, 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.01.033
  9. Brand, M., Young, K. S., Laier, C., Wölfling, K., & Potenza, M. N. (2016). Integrating psychological and neurobiological considerations regarding the development and maintenance of specific Internet-use disorders: An Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 71, 252–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.033
  10. Starcke, K., & Brand, M. (2016). Effects of stress on decisions under uncertainty: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142, 909–933. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000060