Dr. Katrin Lübke

Dr. Katrin Lübke can be found at 

ORCID 

ResearchGate 

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Education

• 2010: Dr. rer. nat. (PhD), summa cum laude, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2005: Diploma in Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Academic Positions

• since 2025: Research Associate, Head of Laboratory
  Department of Clinical Psychology – Becker Pain Lab, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2017–2025: Research Associate, Head of Laboratory
  Department of Biological Psychology and Social Psychology, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2011–2017: Postdoctoral Researcher
  Department of Biological Psychology and Social Psychology, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2010: Visiting Researcher
  Interdisciplinary Center for Smell and Taste (Director: Prof. Dr. Thomas Hummel),
  Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden
• 2006–2010: Doctoral Researcher
  Department of Biological Psychology and Social Psychology, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Academic Service

• since 2023: Member of the Examination Boards, BSc and MSc Psychology
• 2017–present:
  • Minor Subject Coordinator, Examination Board BSc Psychology
  • Representative of the Examination Board BSc Psychology for the Studium Universale
• 2011–2016: Member of the Executive Board, Academic Unit of Psychology
• 2012: Member of the Re-Accreditation Committee (BSc and MSc Psychology programs)
• Habilitation Committees:
  • 2021: PD Dr. Studer
  • 2020: PD Dr. Gieselmann
  • 2014: PD Dr. Bell
  • 2013: PD Dr. Lange
• Appointment Committees:
  • 2020–2021: Professorship in Clinical Psychology
  • 2010: Professorship in Comparative Psychology
• 2006–2011: Member of Examination Boards
  • Diploma in Psychology
  • BSc Psychology
  • MSc Psychology
• 2006–2025: Academic Advisor for Psychology Students

Research Interests

General

·  Human social chemosignaling
– The role of body odors and other chemosensory signals in social–emotional processes.

·  Neurocognitive processing of social signals
– Central neural mechanisms underlying empathy, aggression, fear, and social perception.

·  Sexuality and sexual orientation in the context of socio-emotional processes
– Differences between sexual orientations in perception, behavior, and neural processing.

·  Sociobiological and evolutionary psychological aspects of human behavior
– Adaptive functions of cooperation, aggression, and homosexuality.

· Psychophysiology of social interaction
– auf EEG-/fMRT und Peripherphysiologie basierende Untersuchung von Empathie, Spiegelneuronensystem, Affektverarbeitung

Specific

1. Chemosensory signals
   – Processing, effects, and behavioral modulation induced by signals related to anxiety, aggression, happiness, or satiety.
2. Influence of sex hormones, biological sex, and pregnancy
   – Hormonal modulation of chemosensory perception and emotional responses.
3. Sexual orientation and social/emotional behavior
   – Differences in empathy, aggression, cooperation, and (body) odor perception between homosexual and heterosexual individuals.
4. Empathy and the mirror neuron system (EEG, mu suppression)
   – Associations between empathy, somatosensory mu activity, body odor processing, and sexual orientation.
5. Social context and chemosensory modulation of cognitive processes
   – Effects of (body) odors on attention, emotion recognition, mood, defensive behavior, and social cognition.

Selected Publications

Loos, HM, Schaal, B, Pause, BM, Smeets, MAM., Ferdenzi, C, Roberts, SC, de Groot, J, Lübke, KT, Croy, I, Freiherr, J, Bensafi, M, Hummel, T, & Havlíček, J (2025). Past, present, and future of human chemical communication research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 20(1), 20-44. doi.org/10.1177/17456916231188147 

Lübke, KT, Storch, D, & Pause, BM (2024). Sexual orientation affects neural responses to subtle social aggression signals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(1), 153-175. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02661-z 

Lübke, KT, Sachse, C., Hoenen, M, & Pause, BM (2020). Mu-suppression as an indicator of empathic processes in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(2), 635-644. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01491-2 

Pause, BM, Storch, D., & Lübke, KT (2020). Chemosensory communication of aggression: Women's fine-tuned neural processing of male aggression signals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 375(1800), 20190270. doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0270 

Lübke, KT, Busch, A, Hoenen, M, Schaal, B, & Pause, BM (2017). Chemosensory anxiety signals prime defensive behavior in prepubertal girls. Physiology and Behavior, 173, 30-33. doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.01.035 

Lübke, KT, Busch, A, Hoenen, M, Schaal, B, & Pause, BM (2017). Pregnancy reduces the perception of anxiety. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 9213. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07985-0 

Lübke, KT, & Pause, BM (2015). Always follow your nose: The functional significance of social chemosignals in human reproduction and survival. Hormones and Behavior, 68, 134-144. doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.10.001 

Lübke, KT, Croy, I, Hoenen, M, Gerber, J, Pause, BM, & Hummel, T (2014). Does human body odor represent a significant and rewarding social signal to individuals high in social openness? PLoS ONE, 9(4), e94314. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094314 

Lübke, KT, Hoenen, M, & Pause, BM (2012). Differential processing of social chemosignals obtained from potential partners in regards to gender and sexual orientation. Behavioural Brain Research, 228, 375-387. doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2011.12.018 

Pause, BM, Lübke, K, Laudien, JH, & Ferstl, R (2010). Intensified neuronal investment in the processing of chemosensory anxiety signals in non-socially anxious and socially anxious individuals. PLoS ONE, 5(4), e10342. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010342 

For a full list see of publications see https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=A4UqxYUAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao

Third-Party Funding and Grants

• 2014–2016: Research Grant, German Research Foundation (DFG)
  Project: “Sexual Orientation as a Modulator of Aggression, Cooperation, and Empathy”
  (joint application with Prof. Dr. B. M. Pause; total funding: €122,222)
• 2010: Research Stay Grant
  Interdisciplinary Center for Smell and Taste, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden
  (Women’s Research Support Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)
• 2008: Full Scholarship, Minerva Foundation
  Participation in the 28th Blankenese Conference on Sensory Signaling and Information Processing

International Peer Review Activities

Reviewer for, among others, the following academic journals:

Archives of Sexual Behavior · Behavior Research Methods · Brain Sciences · Chemical Senses ·
Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · Frontiers in Psychology ·
International Journal of Medical Science · i-Perception · Journal of Homosexuality (ad hoc) ·
NeuroImage · Perspectives of Psychological Science · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B ·
Physiology & Behavior · PLOS One · Polish Psychological Bulletin · Proceedings of the Royal Society B ·
Psychology of Sport & Exercise · Psychoneuroendocrinology · Scientific Reports

Memberships in Professional Societies

• German Society for Psychophysiology and its Applications (DGPA)
• German Psychological Society (DGPs)
  – Sections: General Psychology; Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology
• European Chemoreception Research Organization (ECRO)
• Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS)

Organisation of Scientific Symposia

• 2015: “Women, Men, Emotions: The Influence of Sex and Sex Hormones on Emotional Processes”
  41st Conference Psychologie und Gehirn, Frankfurt (with Prof. C. Merz)
• 2013: “Olfaction in Everyday Life: Chemosensory Communication, Social Learning, and Olfactory Disorders”
  55th Conference of Experimental Psychologists (TeaP), Vienna (with Prof. C. Dobel)
• 2011: “The Influence of Gender and Sexual Orientation on Human Olfaction”
  21st ECRO Congress, Manchester (with Dr. M. Sergeant), Member of the Scientific Organizing Committee

Invited Talks (Selected)

• 2020: “Always Follow Your Nose! How Human Chemosignals Influence Reproduction”
  Joint Symposium of DGRM + AGRBM, Düsseldorf
• 2019: “Always Follow Your Nose! Communication via Body Odors in Humans”
  Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2018: Contributions on chemosensory aggression and empathy
  NeuroRad, Frankfurt; Human Chemosensation Meeting, Dresden
• 2010–2017: Invited lectures at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Ruhr University Bochum, and University Hospital Dresden

Research Collaborations

• Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf - Prof. Dr. Bettina Pause
• University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden – Prof. Dr. Thomas Hummel
• University of Osnabrück – Prof. Dr. Ursula Stockhorst
• Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation (CNRS / University of Burgundy, Dijon) – Prof. Dr. Benoist Schaal

Professional Training in Teaching and Research

• 2013: Professional Teaching Competence for Higher Education (Certificate), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
• 2011: Functional MRI in Psychological Research, BION, Giessen
• 2009: Human Olfaction Summer School, Dresden
• 2009: Event-Related Potentials and Spontaneous EEG, Leipzig

Teaching

Supervision of Theses
Supervision of doctoral dissertations, master’s theses, bachelor’s theses, and diploma theses.

Lectures

• Social Psychology, BSc Psychology (substitute lecturer)

Seminars and Practical Courses

• Clinical Psychology (BSc & MSc)
• Physiological Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Experimental laboratory courses (BSc & Diploma)

Project Modules and Research Internships

• Training in scientific research methods and academic writing
• Participation in ongoing research projects
• Supervision of professional internships (since 2006)