Over 350 music researchers from all over the world have formed a network devoted to the interdisciplinary study of music in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launch of worldwide online study to investigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on music behavior

Artificial intelligence and 80,000 ancient Chinese poems show that constraint poetic structures aid poetry appreciation.

The second residency of the artist-in-residence program INHABIT just started. Media artist Lea Letzel will be exploring links between live music concerts and pyrotechnics.

New model contradicts previous hypotheses.

Die Forschungsprojekte des Instituts im Überblick

An Innovative Approach to Measuring Aesthetic Enjoyment

As part of the new Max Planck-NYU cooperation "CLaME", Joseph LeDoux (NYU) will provide insights into the latest research on the neural basis of emotions on November 5.

Let’s take a look at visual perception

Neues Artist-in-Residence Programm startet. Bewerbung bis 3.11.2019 möglich.

New Study Points to Universal Code in Our Brains for What We Find Beautiful

Powerful Literary Fiction Texts

A new study analyses varieties of beauty

Ines Schindler, Abteilung Sprache und Literatur, lehrt ab dem Wintersemester an der Universität Frankfurt

MPIEA scientists organize Humboldt-Kolleg in Tokyo

Interdisciplinary symposium results in a special issue on Eye-Tracking.

On March 12, the new Max Planck - NYU Center for Language, Music and Emotion (ClaME) in New York City was officially inaugurated.

Jahrespressekonferenz veröffentlicht Programm des neuen Netzwerks

Film and lecture series on the processing of feature films in the brain

On February 27 we welcome Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard for a public lecture on beauty in the animal kingdom.

A recent study puts the influence of the composer’s prestige on the evaluation of classical music into perspective and shows: The enjoyment of music is promoted by lively texts.

Neuroscientific study by an international research team sheds light on the role of the default mode network in the brain.

Erster Band der Reihe „Spektrum Fachgeschichte Musikwissenschaft“ erschienen

In June 2019 an international conference on fictional prose texts will take place in Brighton, UK. The deadline for submission is January 20.

Das MPIEA lädt zum Podiumsgespräch mit dem renommierten Jenaer Soziologen Hartmut Rosa ein. Das Thema - Resonanzen: Musik und Weltbeziehung.

Empirical study compares recited and unrecited poems with surprising results

Neue, groß angelegte Studie in Frankfurt erforscht, was Kinder beim Hören von Geschichten fühlen

Previous theories on temporal processes in the human brain need to be revised

Ergebnis des Planungswettbewerbs steht fest

As part of the study "Experimental Concert Research", the Institute presents exclusive concerts

Comparative cultural study contradicts previous assumptions about universal perception of music

Experimental event series presents performances in the context of current and innovative research

Fundamental differences found in taste for naturally occurring aesthetic domains and for artifacts of human culture

On September 14, we invite you to a bar evening from 7 p.m. with short lectures from our research.

A study from the Department of Neuroscience examines the similarities and differences between birdsong and music 

Wissenschaftler des MPIEA leiten MEG-Demonstrations-Messung mit Fußball-Legende Charly Körbel für „Begehbares Gehirn“ im neuen Senckenberg Naturmuseum Frankfurt.

Internationales Forschungsprojekt „Experimental Concert Research“ untersucht, was ein klassisches Konzert ausmacht 

New publication from the Department of Language and Literature 

From 2023, the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics is planning to move into the building of the old Dondorf printing house in Bockenheim.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics publish study investigating eye movements while reading proverbs

New conversation series about the stories behind the official CV

Public lectures in the field of neurosciences - the Westend Lectures go into the second round. 

On May 6, our institute opens its doors for a program of short public lectures on the latest research projects and live music in the ArtLab.

...as a paradigm in music sociology and cultural studies" / Deadline: 30 April 2018

First research report released.

A new study shows why we enjoy negative emotions in film and art

A new study by New York University and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics shows that vivid pictorial language has the greatest influence on the aesthetic appeal of poetry. The results improve our understanding of aesthetic preferences in general.

New linguistic study shows that our mind links human sounds to abstract content

The human auditory system has preferences, as evidenced by a recent study of the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics published in PLOS Biology.

In the first Fechner Lecture at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Anjan Chatterjee focused on “The Good, the Bad and The Ugly of Beauty”. Professor Chatterjee (University of Pennsylvania) is among the leading international scientists in the field of neuroaesthetics. 

In der Nacht zum 2. Oktober verstarb völlig unerwartet unser wunderbarer Kollege Prof. Dr. Hartmut Grimm, Senior Researcher an der Musikabteilung.

Public Fechner Lecture on 24 October with US Neuroscientist Anjan Chatterjee, M.D.

On 12 and 14 September, public research concerts will take place at our institute to investigate the perception of music in the context of the concert. Interested people are cordially invited to participate. Admission is free of charge, registration is required.

On August 17th and 18th, the conference "Music & Eye-Tracking -What eye movements, pupil dilation, and blinking activity tell us about musical processing" will take place at our institute.

On July 12th we welcome the renowned music psychologist Daniel Müllensiefen to a lecture on the topic "The Psychology of Aesthetic Experience" at 2 pm at our institute. External guests are welcome and can register.

Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen des Max-Planck-Instituts für empirische Ästhetik präsentieren eine Skala zur universellen Erfassung ästhetischer Gefühle.

On 29 and 30 June, a symposium on Mixed Emotions and Aesthetics at Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics will bring together leading scientists in the field.

Poetic language is one of the most ancient forms of human expression. The presence of poems in cultures around the world and throughout recorded history suggests that it has a strong grip on human emotion.

The synchronization of brainwaves among students during class reflects how much they like the class and each other, a team of neuroscientists has found.

International Symposium on Neural Oscillations in Berlin

What can eye movements, pupil dilation, and blinking activity tell us about musical processing?

A new multidimensional approach might provide true understanding of the brain

New study on goosebumps published

First study on emotional effects of poetic diction published

New publication shows: division-of-labor, flat hierarchies and non-synchronous interaction can be beneficial

Das Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik sucht Teilnehmer/innen für eine großangelegte Studie (online-Fragebogen), die das Erleben von Schönheit untersucht.

Am 19. November 2016 fand in der Alten Oper ein Vortrag der Gesprächsreihe „Das Konzert in der Forschung" statt. Die Gesprächsreihe ist eine Kooperation des Max-Planck-Instituts für empirische Ästhetik und der Alten Oper Frankfurt.

Seit der griechischen Antike beschäftigen sich Wissenschaftler, Dichter und Lyrikliebhaber immer wieder mit der Frage, ob es in der Poesie einen Zusammenhang zwischen Klang und emotionaler Textbedeutung gibt.

Am 9. November 2016 fand im ArtLab des Max-Planck-Instituts für empirische Ästhetik eine Performance der besonderen Art statt: Schwitters’ Ursonate (1923) vorgetragen von Michael Schmid. Die Besucher der Performance waren zugleich Mitwirkende eines Forschungsprojekts.

In the framework of the Europe-wide project “CONNECT – The audience as artist”, the coming weeks see the premieres of two commissioned works by Huang Ruo (The Sonic Great Wall) and Christian Mason (In the midst of the Sonorous Islands) in three different European cities.

Paul Elvers, research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, received the second place at the »Best Poster Prize« during the 24th Conference of the  International Association for Empirical Aesthetics« (IAEA).

First comprehensive empirical investigation into trash films and their audience

We welcome Mrs. Yi Chen at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Dr. Chen holds Ph.D.s from Shanghai, China, and Toronto, Canada, and recently was lecturer at Victoria University in the University of Toronto. She has been awarded with a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers for a period of 24 month by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, starting May, 1st, 2016.

The Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics seeks to bring together refugee families and local families for "Playdates" during which the kids play and parents can exchange experiences.

Wenn Menschen eine Aufgabe als Team bewältigen, funktioniert das unterschiedlich gut. Je besser ein Team zusammenarbeitet, desto stärker synchronisieren sich die Körperfunktionen der Mitglieder.

Pauline Larrouy-Maestri, PhD, awarded by SEMPRE/ICMPC14

Scientists attempt to explain the enjoyment of negative emotions in art and entertainment experiences.

Researchers discover how the brain completes sentences.

Language that is metrically regular to an unusual degree is not only found in poetry, but also in the language of rites and festive events, in preverbal infant-directed speech (IDS), in slogans, commercial ads, etc.

New research presents evidence for innate understanding of language rules

Researchers find neurological notes that help identify how we process music

The Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics opened in Frankfurt am Main

Musical tastes are changing and losing their links to social status.

In tune or out of tune – people with no formal musical training versus professional musicians.

The study investigated the effects of three experimentally modified rhetorical features. While they exerted an adverse effect on comprehensibility, they enhanced perveived beauty, succinctness (praegnanz), beauty and power of persuasion.

It is not unusual to experience strong emotions when watching moving film scenes. The emotions can in fact become so intense that a thermoregulatory response – piloerection, chills or goose bumps – can be triggered by the body.

Screams occupy a privileged acoustic niche to ensure their biological and social efficiency.

Special Issue CORTEX: Prediction in speech and language processing

Ever since Latin rhetoric and poetics emotionally moving (lat. movere) an audience has been identified as one of the major goals of the arts.