JUN.-PROF. DR. SVEN THOENES


Assistant-Prof. Dr. phil. , M.Sc. Psych., M.A. Phil.

Deutsche Version

Room:06-339
Phone:++49 - (0)6131 - 39 - 39267
Mail

Consulting hour: by arrangement (via E-Mail)

Visitors address:
Department of Psychology
Johannes Gutenberg-University
Wallstrasse 3, entrance B, floor 6.
D-55122 Mainz



  • Since 02/2019  Assistant Professor for applied Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany
  • 11/2016 – 01/2919 Research associate at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
  • 12/2013 - 10/2016 Research associate at the TU Darmstadt
  • 10/2013 - 10/2016 Ph.D. candidate and research associate at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany
  • 03/2013 - 04/2013 Research internships at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, USA and at the University of Groningen, Netherlands
  • 05/2009 - 09/2013 Student assistant at the Universities of Dortmund and Duesseldorf and at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors. Areas: Research Methods and Statistics, Cognitive Psychology, and Neuroscience
  • 04/2012 - 09/2018 Master’s program Philosophy at the University of Hagen
  • 10/2011 - 09/2013 Master’s program Psychology at the University of Duesseldorf
  • 10/2008 - 09/2011 Bachelor’s program Psychology/Philosophy at the University of Technology (TU) Dortmund


  • Timing and Time Perception
  • Cognitive aging
  • Methods: Meta-analysis, Psychophysics, Event-related EEG potentials



  • Hecht, H., Siebrand, S., & Thönes, S. (2020). Quantifying the Wollaston illusion. Perception, 49(5), 588-599.
  • Schneider, D., Zickerick, B., Thönes, S., & Wascher, E. (2020). Encoding, storage and response preparation – Distinct EEG correlates of stimulus and action representations in working memory. Psychophysiology [Abstract]
  • Zickerick, B., Thönes, S., Kobald, S.O., Wascher, E., Schneider, D., & Küper, K. (2020) Differential Effects of Interruptions and Distractions on Working Memory Processes in an ERP Study. Front. Hum. Neurosci. [Abstract]
  • Gajewski,D.P.,  Falkenstein, M.,  Thönes, S.,  & Wascher, E. (2020). Stroop task performance across the lifespan: High cognitive reserve in older age is associated with enhanced proactive and reactive interference control, NeuroImage, 207, 116430.
  • Thönes, S. & Stocker,K. (2019). A standard conceptual framework for the study of subjective time. Consciousness and Cognition,71,114-122.
  • Thönes, S., Falkenstein, M., & Gajewski, P. (2018). Multitasking in aging: ERP correlates of dual-task costs in young versus low, intermediate, and high performing older adults. Neuropsychologia, 119, 424-433. [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., Arnau, S., & Wascher, E. (2018). Cognitions about time affect perception, behavior, and physiology - a review on effects of external clock-speed manipulations. Consciousness & Cognition, 63, 99-109. [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., von Castell, C., Iflinger, J., & Oberfeld, D. (2018). Color and time perception: Evidence for temporal overestimation of blue stimuli. Scientific Reports, 8(1688). [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., Stocker, K., Brugger, P., & Hecht, H. (2018). Is mental time embodied interpersonally? Cognitive Processing, 19(3), 419-427. [Abstract]
  • Gajewski, P.D., Hanisch, E., Falkenstein, M., Thönes, S., & Wascher, E. (2018) What Does the n-Back Task Measure as We Get Older? Relations Between Working-Memory Measures and Other Cognitive Functions Across the Lifespan. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(2208). [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S. & Hecht, H. (2017). Counting does not improve the accuracy of long time productions. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(8), 2576-2589. [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S. & Oberfeld, D. (2017). Meta-analysis of time perception and temporal processing in schizophrenia: Differential effects on precision and accuracy. Clinical Psychology Review, 54, 44-64. doi 10.1016/j.jad.2014.12.057
  • Yin, B., Thönes, S., Cheng, R., Wang, N., Covington, H., & Meck, W. (2016). Continuous Social Defeat Induces Depression-Like Symptoms Including Anhedonia and Slowed Time Perception that are Rapidly Reversed by Ketamine. Timing and Time Perception, 4, 371-397. [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., & Wittmann, M. (2016). Time perception in yogic mindfulness meditation - Effects on retrospective duration judgments and time passage. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice.
  • Thönes, S., & Hecht, H. (2016). How long did you look at me? The influence of gaze direction on perceived duration and temporal sensitivity. Perception, 45(6). 612-630. [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., & Oberfeld, D. (2015). Time perception in depression: A meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 175, 359-372. [Abstract]
  • Oberfeld, D., Thönes, S., Palayoor, B.J., & Hecht, H. (2014). Depression does not affect time perception and time-to-contact estimation. Front. Psychol. 5, (810). [Abstract]
  • Thönes, S., & Lange, K. (2014). The contingent negative variation – an electrophysiological correlate of temporal processing or reference memory? Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 126, 197-198.


  • Vogt, J. & Thönes, S. (2016). Einführung in die Biologische Psychologie und das peripher-physiologische Messen. [An introduction to biological psychology and peripheral physiological assessment]. Heidelberg, Kröning: Asanger.


  • Seminar: Special research topics in cognition and perception (summer term 2016)
  • Seminar: Special research topics in cognition and perception (winter term 2015/2016)
  • Seminar: Special research topics in cognition and perception (summer term 2015)
  • Research Seminar on time perception: The paradigm of temporal reproduction (winter term 2014/2015)
  • Seminar: Time perception and temporal processing (summer term 2014)
  • Research Seminar on time perception (winter term 2013/2014)