Born in Heidelberg, Germany. Diploma in Mathematics at Heidelberg University (1986). Research assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany (1988 - 1989). Research assistant and Ph.D. student at the Institut für Neuroinformatik of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany (1990-1994). Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in physics (1994). The thesis was awarded the Heinrich-Kost-Award in 1995. Postdoc at the Department of Computing Science of the University of Groningen,The Netherlands (1995-1997). Currently permanent staff member at the Institut für Neuroinformatik of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. Habilitation for Applied Computer Science (2009). Senior member of IEEE, member of ACM and GI (German society for Computer Science), GKS (German society for Cognitive Science), and ESSCS (European Society for the Study of Cognitive Systems).