Language, Neural Mechanisms and Temporal Processing – Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik

Neural Computation for Sound and Recognition

(led by Dr. Johanna Rimmele)

Language and music are fundamental aspects of our lives—with impairment resulting in serious derogation. While we understand spoken language (or follow music) seemingly effortlessly, the cognitive computations and neural implementations are far from understood.

The research interests of the Neural Computation for Sound and Recognition Team lie in how the brain connects sensory information to recognition, involving auditory perception, particularly speech (and music), and understanding how malleable, trainable, or plastic the mechanisms are. Particularly, we investigate the role of brain rhythms and the motor system. Our methodology includes psychophysics, electrophysiology, and neuroimaging (particularly EEG, MEG, MRI). Furthermore, we are interested in computational modeling approaches.

Current Research Areas

Latest Publications & Science Communication

Atanasova, T., Gross, J., Rimmele, J. M., & Keitel, A. (2026). The involvement of endogenous brain rhythms in speech processing. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews,183: 106568. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2026.106568.
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Barchet, A. V., Bruera, A., Rimmele, J. M., Obleser, J., & Hartwigsen, G. (2026). Linguistic information compensates for age-related decline in attentional filtering. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.01.08.698329.
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Kwon, S., Lubinus, C., Kell, C. A., Keitel, A., & Rimmele, J. M. (2026). Effects of speech periodicity and speech rate on auditory-motor coupling during speech comprehension. Communications Biology,9: 205. doi:10.1038/s42003-025-09481-y.
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Hartung, N., Barchet, A. V., Abel, C., Pittman-Polletta, B. R., Ullén, F., & Rimmele, J. M. (2025). Auditory-motor synchronization determines the use of predictions in music perception. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2025.08.20.671291.
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Keitel, A., Keitel, C., Alavash, M., Bakardjian, K., Benwell, C. S., Bouton, S., Busch, N. A., Criscuolo, A., Doelling, K. B., Dugue, L., Grabot, L., Gross, J., Hanslmayr, S., Klatt, L.-I., Kluger, D. S., Learmonth, G., London, R. E., Lubinus, C., Martin, A. E., Obleser, J., Rimmele, J. M., Romei, V., Ruzzoli, M., Siebenhuhner, F., Slaats, S., Spaak, E., Tarasi, L., Thut, G., Trajkovic, J., Wang, D., Wostmann, M., Zoefel, B., Palva, S., Sauseng, P., & Kotz, S. A. (2025). Brain rhythms in cognition - controversies and future directions. arXiv. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2507.15639.
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Keitel, A., Pelofi, C., Guan, X., Watson, E., Wight, L., Allen, S., Mencke, I., Keitel, C., & Rimmele, J. M. (2025). Cortical and behavioral tracking of rhythm in music: Effects of pitch predictability, enjoyment, and expertise. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1546(1), 120-135. doi:10.1111/nyas.15315.
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Lubinus, C., Keitel, A., Obleser, J., Poeppel, D., & Rimmele, J. M. (2025). Endogenous auditory and motor brain rhythms predict individual speech tracking. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2025.03.24.644939.
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all publications