About us
Chair of General and Experimental Psychology (AEP)
The chair today referred to as “Chair of General and Experimental Psychology” (Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, AEP) was originally held by Karl Stumpf, and later by Theodor Lipps, Oswald Külpe, and Wolfgng Prinz, amongst others (Read more). Since 2000, it has been held by Hermann Josef Müller whose teaching and research interests include perception, attention, and memory, as well as experimental-psychological methodology.
Besides providing an overview of the current approaches and theories in Experimental Psychology (in particular, perception, attention, memory, executive functions, performance) in lectures and dedicated seminars, we offer a number of opportunities to students of all levels (B.Sc.; M.Sc, Ph.D.) to gain hands-on experience. For example, students can take part in ongoing research projects in project seminars, lab placements, and as (paid) student research assistants. Students have the opportunity to show their work in our poster presentation events and by participating in conferences. In addition, we encourage and support international student exchange (e.g., within the ERASMUS program and placements in international partner laboratories).
The teaching and research unit associated with the chair has seen a marked growth over the last few years, in terms of staff, research funding and research output. The staff is multi-national, with varied, inter-disciplinary research backgrounds. The laboratory includes facilities for multi-modal (visual, acoustic, haptic) psychophysics, eye and hand movement measurement, virtual-reality system, EEG recording, as well as access to fMRI via partner institutions. Also, neuropsychological research with brain-damaged subjects (at M.Sc. Ph.D. and post-doc level) is supported by links with clinical institutions. The unit has been the nucleus of an international Masters (M.Sc.) program in 'Neuro-cognitive Psychology (NCP)' and an interdisciplinary DFG-funded Research Group; it is involved in the Excellence Cluster 'Cognition for Technical systems (CoTeSys)' and is represented in the Munich neuroscience network, in particular, the 'Munich Center for Neurosciences' and the 'Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences'. The unit’s research output has more than trebled over the last decade, with over 50 original-research papers in major journals of experimental psychology and the cognitive neurosciences in 2009.
The unit hosts two regular research seminars (in English) that take place on Wednesdays during semester time: the advanced-research seminar and the colloquium, where internationally renowned scientists from Experimental Psychology and the broader Cognitive Neurosciences are invited to present and discuss their work. Everyone is invited to attend these seminars.