Dr. Iris Mencke

Research Focus

  • Aesthetic experience in contemporary classical music
  • Electrophysiological correlates and neural substrates of musical expectancy and musical pleasure
  • Music perception

Vita

 

Academic Education

01/2022

Doctoral Degree, Psychology (Dr. rer. nat.), Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Dissertation: Appreciating Musical Uncertainty – Characterizing the Cognitive, Neural and Affective Correlates of New Music

2016

M.A. Musicology, Humboldt-University, Berlin
Thesis: Expecting the Unexpected – Approaches to a Theory about the Musical Pleasure of Serial Music

2012

B.A. German studies / Musicology, University of Potsdam
Thesis: Emergence as a Phenomenon of Multimedia

Career

Since 2022Guest Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Department of Music, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2016–2022

Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Department of Music, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2019–2020

Visiting Researcher at the Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

2015–2016

Placement Student at the Music, Mind & Brain group, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom

 

Publications

Publications

Mencke, I., Omigie, D., Quiroga-Martinez, D. R., & Brattico, E. (2022). Atonal Music as a Model for Investigating Exploratory Behavior. Frontiers in Neuroscience 16. doi:10.3389/fnins.2022.793163

Mencke I, Seibert C, Brattico E, Wald-Fuhrmann M. (2022). Comparing the aesthetic experience of classic–romantic and contemporary classical music: An interview study. Psychology of Music. June 2022. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/03057356221091312

Mencke, I., Quiroga-Martinez, D. R., Omigie, D., Michalareas, G., Schwarzacher, F., Trusbak Haumann, N., Vuust, P., & Brattico, E. (2021). Prediction under uncertainty: Dissociating sensory from cognitive expectations in highly uncertain musical contexts. Brain Research,1773: 147664. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147664.

Mencke, I., Omigie, D., Wald-Fuhrmann, M., & Brattico, E. (2018). Atonal music: Can uncertainty lead to pleasure? Frontiers in Auditory Cognitive Neurosciencedoi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00979.

Conference Papers

Mencke, I., Herzfeld-Schild, M.-L. (2022) Erfahrungsdimensionen Neuer Musik. Zur intradisziplinären Verknüpfung von psychologischer und kulturwissenschaftlicher Musikforschung, XVIII International Congress of the German Musicological Society (GFM), Berlin, Germany.

Mencke, I., Quiroga, D., Omigie, D., Haumann, N. T., Schwarzacher, F., Michalareas, G., Vuust, P., Brattico, E. (2022) Prediction Under Uncertainty: Dissociating Sensory from Cognitive Expectations in Highly Uncertain Musical Contexts. Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), San Francisco, California, USA

Mencke, I., Seibert, C., Brattico, E., Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2021) Comparing aesthetic experience of classic-romantic and contemporary classical music - An interview study. XVII International Congress of the German Musicological Society (GFM), Bonn, Germany.

Mencke, I., Seibert, C., Brattico, E., Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2021)Comparing aesthetic experience of classic-romantic and contemporary classical music - An interview study. XXVI Conference of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA), London, United Kingdom.

Mencke, I. (2021) Exploration Revisited – New Music as a Model for Exploratory Behavior Under High Uncertainty Conditions. Conference ‘Art and Affect in the Predictive Mind‘, University of York, York, United Kingdom.

Mencke, I., Quiroga, D., Omigie, D., Haumann, N. T., Schwarzacher, F., Michalareas, G., Vuust, P., Brattico, E. (2021) Prediction Under Uncertainty: Dissociating Sensory from Cognitive Expectations in Highly Uncertain Musical Contexts. 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition / 11th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ICMPC/ESCOM). Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Mencke, I., Quiroga, D., Omigie, D., Haumann, N. T., Schwarzacher, F., Michalareas, G., Vuust, P., Brattico, E. (2021) Prediction Under Uncertainty: Dissociating Sensory from Cognitive Expectations in Highly Uncertain Musical Contexts. The Neurosciences and Music – VII, Aaarhus, Denmark.

Fischinger, T., Mencke, I. (2019). Some Psychological Constraints and Mechanisms for the Perception and Cognition of Time and Rhythm: A theoretical review. Symposium “Time changes in experiences of music and dance“, Hamburg, Germany.

Mencke, I., Seibert, C., Brattico, E., Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2019). Can Uncertainty lead to Pleasure? The Case of Contemporary Classical Music. Interdisciplinarity Revisited, International symposium organised by the Volkswagen foundation, Berlin, Germany.

Mencke, I., Seibert, C., Brattico, E., Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2018). Aesthetic experience and musical pleasure in modern music – an interview study. 15th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition / 10th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Graz.

Floridou, G. A., Mencke, I., Caprini, F., Williamson, V., Müllensiefen, D. (2017). Novel involuntary musical imagery: The genesis of a tune in the mind.25th Anniversary Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Ghent.

Monographs

Fischinger, T. & Mencke, I. (forthcoming). Some Psychological Constraints and Mechanisms for the Perception and Cognition of Time and Rhythm. In H. Neuhoff & R. Polak (Eds.), Musical Meter in Comparative Perspective - Theoretical Discourse and Case Studies from Various Cultures. Köln: Dohr.

 

Awards & Grants

Awards & Grants

2019

Travel grant, Volkswagen Foundation, Symposium ‘Interdisciplinarity Revisited’ at Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany

2017Travel grant, Graduate School of Health, Aarhus University; for a 6-months research stay at the 'Center for Music in the Brain', Department of Clinical Medicin, Aarhus University, Denmark

2016

Research Training Supplement of the Graduate School of Health Science (Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark)

2015/16   

DAAD stipend (PROMOS program) for research stay at the Music, Mind and Brain group, Goldsmiths, University of London

  

2014

DAAD stipend for a research stay in Milano, Italy 

Projects