Object recognition with dynamic neural fields

iii iv Acknowledgement This thesis has been elaborated at the Institut für Neuroinformatik at the Ruhr-University Bochum. Working at the Institut für Neuroinformatik has been a huge chance that allowed me to discover the pleasure of interdisci-plinary and exciting scientific work. Advised by Gregor Schöner I experienced a way of doing research that I find very beautiful because of its conceptual clarity. I am very grateful for the guidance, help and inspiration he provided. What makes an aspiring and inspiring work environment is ultimately determined by the surrounding people and the Institut für Neuroinformatik seems to be a place that especially attracts this kind. Thank you all! To name a few of those, I would first like to thank Ioannis Iossifidis for always having an ear and time for discussion for the fun we had and for his cheering laugh. Christian Igel is not only a great partner for having a break but also one for intellectual sparring sessions during those breaks. I am very thankful for these as they trained me to choose my arguments well and how to discuss controversially and yet respectfully. Thanks to Evelina Dineva for teaching me good cooking and food shopping and for being a great colleague to cooperate with even if separated by a huge ocean. I think this thesis would be a pain to read without the help and valuable comments and corrections from John Lipinski. Cheers to John Spencer and the Spam lab crew: your comments and feedback on my work where very motivating and inspiring. Glasmachers and Yulia Sandamirskaya all got pieces of this thesis to read and I am very thankful for their proposals and comments. I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid for writing the second report on this thesis and for his valuable comments. I am grateful to my family for supporting me during my studies. Finally I thank Cordula Körber for the patience and all the love she gave me during the accomplishment of this thesis.