WHO LIKES WHAT,AND WHY?
In a joint effort of researchers from the humanities and the sciences, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics explores who aesthetically appreciates what, for which reasons and under which situational and historical circumstances, and analyzes the functions of aesthetic preferences and practices for individuals and societies.
Departments
Language and Literature
Director: Prof. Dr. Winfried Menninghaus
The Department of Language and Literature investigates the aesthetically relevant features and the aesthetic perception as well as the evaluation of linguistic utterances and texts, with a specific focus on literature.
Music
Director: Prof. Dr. Melanie Wald-Fuhrmann
Using a variety of methods, the Department of Music researches the processing, experiencing and evaluation of music, as well as behaviour during its reception.
Cognitive Neuropsychology
Director: Prof. Dr. Fredrik Ullén
The Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology investigates the neuropsychological mechanisms of musical expertise, skill learning and creativity, as well as relations between cultural engagement, well-being and health.
Research Groups
Histories of Music, Mind, and Body
The "Histories of Music, Mind, and Body" Research Group seeks to historicize specific philosophical, embodied, and medical understandings of the experience of music.
Computational Auditory Perception
Focusing largely on the auditory modality, the "Computational Auditory Perception" Research Group explores the roles of experience and exposure in creating and affecting our perception of the world.
Neural and Environmental Rhythms
The Research Group "Neural and Environmental Rhythms" focuses on understanding how brain–environment synchrony contributes to our individual experience of the auditory world
Neurocognition of Music and Language
The Research Group “Neurocognition of Music and Language” explores perceptual, cognitive, and expressive similarities and differences between music and language, as well as their neural grounding and links with aesthetics.
Neural Circuits, Consciousness, and Cognition
The Research Group Neural Circuits, Consciousness, and Cognition seeks to understand why some experiences feel the way they do (consciousness) and how such experiences are imprinted on our brain (learning and memory).
The Institute
Our institutes investigates the foundations and mechanisms of aesthetic perception and evaluation as well as aesthetically appealing features of objects and events across sensory modalities. It draws on broad multi-disciplinary expertise and a large variety of methods. Key desiderata include the multiple nuances as well as individual and cultural differences of aesthetic liking, its motivational implications and the functions of aesthetic experiences for cognitive and affective development and for subjective well-being and social communication. [more]
ArtLab
The ArtLab is both a modern, multi-purpose event location, as well as a psychophysiological research facility. Regularly featured here are all kinds of performances (e.g., classical and contemporary musical concerts, literary readings, movie presentations) as well as scientific studies and experiments involving up to 46 test subjects simultaneously.
Information/ Facilities
Events
Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics ArtLab
Museum Angewandte Kunst, Schaumainkai 17, 60594 Frankfurt/Main