Research Focus
Stress: Physiological Stress Response (Cortisol, Amylase, EKG), Self-Reported Stress
Tools: Virtual Reality Stroop Room (VRSR), Short Stress State Questionnaire in German (SSSQ-G)
| Since 03/2026 | Researcher and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Chair of Health Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) |
| 03/2026 | PhD in Psychology (summa cum laude) Chair of Health Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) Title of the Dissertation: “Brain, Body, and Behavior: A Multidimensional Approach to Stress and Resilience”) |
| Since 01/2023 | Researcher and Doctoral Candidate Chair of Health Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) |
| 10/2021- 12/2022 | Researcher and Doctoral Candidate Chair of Health Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab, Department Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering (AIBE), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) |
| 05/2020-08/2021 | Researcher Bamberg Living Lab for Dementia Research (BamLiD) University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany |
| 09/2017-03/2020 | M.Sc. in Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany Master’s Thesis: “Putting a STRAIN on Resilience: Exploring the Role of Resilience in Adverse Life Circumstances and Investigating its Effects on Stress Appraisal and Psychological Health” |
| 08/2019-03/2020 | Research Assistant Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) |
| 01/2018-08/2020 | Research Assistant Chair of Psychological Diagnostics, Methodology and Law Psychology Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) |
| 10/2014-07/2017 | B.Sc. in Psychology Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt a.M., Germany Bachelor’s Thesis: “Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience: Introducing a Salience Component Into a Task-Switching Paradigm and Integrating Data from Resilience (Mechanism) Questionnaires” |
| 10/2016- 07/2017 | Research Assistant Fiebach Lab – Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main |
| Kurz, M., Ringgold, V., Abel, L., Burkhardt, F., Richer, R., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Turner, A. I., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2026). A study protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis on macroscopic body movements as a marker for acute stress. Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-03050-4 |
| Ringgold, V., Burkhardt, F., Abel, L., Kurz, M., Müller, V., Richer, R., Eskofier, B. M., Shields, G. S., & Rohleder, N. (2025). Multimodal stress assessment: Connecting task-related changes in self-reported stress, salivary biomarkers, heart rate, and facial expressions in the context of the stress response to the Trier Social Stress Test. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 180, 107560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107560 |
| Kurz, M., Abel, L., Burkhardt, F., Richer, R., Ringgold, V., Schindler-Gmelch, L., … & Rohleder, N. (2025). Differential effects of body posture on biological and psychological responses in the Trier Social Stress Test. Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001450 |
| Abel, L., Richer, R., Burkhardt, F., Kurz, M., Ringgold, V., Schindler-Gmelch, L., … Rohleder, N. (2025). Body movements as biomarkers: Machine Learning-based prediction of HPA axis reactivity to stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107528 |
| Ringgold, V., Burkhardt, F., Abel, L., Kurz, M., Müller, V., Richer, R., Eskofier, B.M., Shields, G. S., Rohleder, N. (2025, September). Multimodal Stress Responses During the TSST and friendly-TSST. Annual meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), New Orleans, US. |
| Ringgold, V., Abel, L., Burkhardt, F., Kurz, M., Müller, V., Richer, R., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Eskofier, B.M., Shields, G. S., Rohleder, N. (2025, September). Dissecting the Cognitive, Motivations, and Affective Dimensions of the Acute Psychological Stress Response Across Two Empirical Studies. Annual meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), New Orleans, US. |
| Abel, L., Hofmann, M., Richer, R., Kurz, M., Ringgold, V., Burkhardt, F., … Rohleder, N. (2025, September). Data-Driven Quantification of Defensive Freezing During the Trier Social Stress Test. Oral Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), New Orleans, US. |
| Kurz, M., Ringgold, V., Abel, L., Burkhardt, F., Richer, R., Gmelch, L. M., … Rohleder, N. (2025, September). Body Movements as a Marker for Acute Stress. Oral Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), New Orleans, US. |
| Rohleder, N., Richer, R., Abel, L., Kurz, M., Burkhardt, F., Ringgold, V., & Eskofier, B. (2025, March). Stress-induced movement inhibition during acute psychosocial stress predicts HPA axis response. Paper presentation at 82nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine, Seattle, US. |
| Ringgold, V., & Rohleder, N. (2025). Stress and resilience: associations of stress biomarkers with different conceptualizations of resilience. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 61, 101463. |
| Ringgold*, V., Shields*, G. S., Hauck, F., Kurz, M., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Abel, L., … Rohleder, N. (2024). The Short Stress State Questionnaire in German (SSSQ-G): A Multi-Study Validation. European Journal of Health Psychology, 31(4), 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000160 (*shared first authorship) |
| Ringgold, V., Abel, L., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2024). Validation of the Virtual Reality Stroop Room: Effects of inhibiting interfering information under time-pressure and task-switching demands. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 16, 100497. |
| Ringgold*, V., Shields*, G. S., Hauck, F., Kurz, M., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Abel, L., … Rohleder, N. (2024, September 16). The Short Stress State Questionnaire in German (SSSQ-G): A Novel Tool for Assessing Task-Related Changes in Self-Reported Stress. Presentation at the 2024 53rd DGPs congress / 15th ÖGP conference, Vienna, Austria. (*shared first authorship) |
| Ringgold*, V., Shields*, G. S., Hauck, F., Kurz, M., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Abel, L., … Rohleder, N. (2024, September 05). Assessing Task-Related Changes in Self-Reported Stress: Validation of the Short Stress State Questionnaire in German (SSSQ-G). Presentation at the 38th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Cascais, Portugal. (*shared first authorship) |
| Richer, R., Koch, V., Abel, L., Hauck, F., Kurz, M., Ringgold, V., … & Rohleder, N. (2024). Machine learning-based detection of acute psychosocial stress from body posture and movements. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 8251. |
| Ringgold, V., Abel, L., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2024, March 22). Sex differences in acute biological stress responses triggered by the Virtual Reality Stroop Room. Poster presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, Brighton, United Kingdom. |
| Ringgold, V., Kaiser, P., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2023, August 31). Deception in the Virtual Reality Stroop Room. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, London, United Kingdom. |
| Kurz, M., Abel, L., Hauck, F., Richer, R., Ringgold, V., Schindler-Gmelch, L., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2023, August 31). f-TSST+: An extension to the friendly Trier Social Stress Test for better behavioral comparability. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, London, United Kingdom. |
| Ringgold, V., Mehringer, W., Eskofier, B. M., & Rohleder, N. (2023, April 12). Stroop, Stress, and VR: Developing the Virtual Reality Stroop Room. Presentation at the Wuertual Reality XR Meeting, Wuerzburg, Germany. https://doi.org/10.25972/OPUS-31720 |
| Herzer, L., Muecke, A., Richer, R., Albrecht, N. C., Heyder, M., Jaeger, K. M., … & Eskofier, B. M. (2022, September). Influence of Sensor Position and Body Movements on Radar-Based Heart Rate Monitoring. In 2022 IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) (pp. 1-4). IEEE. |
| Best Practices in Open Science (BPOS) | 2023/24; 2024/25; 2025/26 | Lecture & Exercise | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Digital Health Psychology | 2023/24; 2024/25; 2025/26 | Seminar | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Applied Data Science in Medicine & Psychology (ADS) | 2023; 2024; 2025; 2026 | Lecture & Exercise | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Digital Health Psychology | 2023; 2024; 2025; 2026 | Seminar | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Digitalization in Clinical Psychology | 2022/23; 2024; 2025; 2026 | Seminar | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Digital Psychology Lab | 2021/22; 2022/23 | Seminar | FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany |
| Neuropsychological Diagnostics in People with Dementia | 2020 | Seminar | University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany |
| Basic Design Principles for PhDs | 2014 | Presentation | University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany |
| Year | Name | Title |
| 2025 | Hanna Frederking |
Zusammenhang zwischen der Anzahl und Bewertung von Stressoren über die Lebenszeit und der Cortisol- und a-Amylase-Reaktion nach akutem Stress
(Bachelor’s Thesis; Gesundheitspsychologie) |
| 2023 | Jana Reinwald | Triggering an endocrine stress response in the Virtual Reality Stroop Room through social-evaluative stress (Master’s Thesis; MaD Lab) |
| 2023 | Birte Höft |
Implementing an augmented reality application to improve stereoscopic vision
(Co-supervision; Master’s Thesis; MaD Lab) |
| 2023 | Ira von Lindeiner |
Effects of the Virtual Reality Stroop Room on affect and stress parameters
(Master’s Thesis; Health Psychology) |
| 2023 | Jonathan Schumacher |
The relationship between various biomarkers, psychosocial stress, and movement patterns: Freezing, the neglected stress response
(Co-supervision; Master’s Thesis; Health Psychology) |
| 2023 | Sabrina Heumann |
Fight, Flight or Freeze? – Changes in body movements under acute stress with a focus on gender differences
(Master’s Thesis; Health Psychology) |
| 2022 | Paula Kaiser |
Influence of Social-Evaluative Stress in the Virtual Reality Stroop Room
(Master’s Thesis; MaD Lab) |
| 2022 | Nicole Merz |
The Effects of Visual and Auditory Instructions during Virtual Reality Technician Training on Stress Perception |
| 2021 | Benjamin Zenke |
stress+ – Development and Evaluation of a Web Application for Remote, Internet-based Induction of Acute Psychosocial Stress |
- Best Presentation Award, EmpkinS iRTG Retreat (February 2022)
- Scholarship from the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation
- Research stay at the University of Arkansas, U.S.A., at the SCAN Lab with Grant S. Shields, PhD
- Statistical data analysis using SPSS, R, and Python
- FACS coding (Facial Action Coding System; certificate of the Paul Ekman Group)
- Advanced Training in Trauma Therapy (2020; BMBF funded project “ECQAT” of the University Hospital Ulm and the University of Bielefeld)
- Diploma in Communication Design with focus on Information Design (2010; SfG Ravensburg)