Press releases

How does the brain develop in a person who has never received visual input? Using modern imaging techniques, a Polish-German team of researchers from the Institute of Psychology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig investigated how the lack of visual experience affects the maturation of the brain. Their findings were published in Science Advances. more

At the annual meeting of the Max Planck Society on June 18, 2026, the Otto Hahn Medal was awarded for outstanding scientific achievements related to a doctoral dissertation. This year, Meike Hettwer from the Cognitive Neurogenetics Research Group and Joëlle Schroën from the Neuropsychology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) received two of these coveted awards. In this short interview, they answer three questions about their research.
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Have you ever heard a child proudly announce in German, “Schau mal, zwei Hünde!” What sounds amusing to us adults clearly shows just how difficult forming plurals still is for a three-year-old. The child has already understood that there is a rule (for example, adding an “e” to the German word for dog, “Hund”, makes the plural “Hunde” but also uses an umlaut similar to the German plural for hands “Hände”) and that it’s not just a matter of learning a new word. After all, the child has certainly not heard “Hünde” yet; they just aren’t applying the plural rule quite correctly yet. Cheslie C. Klein, Philipp Berger, Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann, and Angela D. Friederici from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) have now investigated in a study to what extent the maturation of neural pathways in the brain is linked to children’s ability to form the plural of words.

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Depressed mood, quick temper, sleep problems, anxiety, feeling detached and barely able to cope with everyday life – women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a condition that causes great suffering for those affected, are familiar with all of these symptoms. more

Christian Doeller, Director of the Psychology Department at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and Vice President of the Max Planck Society, is the new recipient of Germany's most prestigious research award. He was one of ten scientists selected from 144 nominations by the relevant DFG committee on 11 December 2025. The winners each receive prize money of 2.5 million euros. They can use these funds for their research work for up to seven years as they see fit and without bureaucratic red tape. The Leibniz Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony in Berlin on 18 March 2026.
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A new study led by cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences shows that merely imagining a positive encounter with someone can make you like them better by engaging brain regions involved with learning and preference. The findings could have implications for psychotherapy, sports performance and more.
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The European Research Council (ERC), which promotes cutting-edge research in Europe, has awarded Lars Meyer from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig the prestigious Consolidator Grant. For his project "Language in Balance: an Imprint of Brain Electrophysiology? (BALANG)”, he will receive funding of up to two million euros over the next five years.

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New research forms a bridge between human and machine representation
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On the 24^th of October, 2025, we lost our former colleague, collaborator, and friend, Jonathan “Jonny” Smallwood, who passed away peacefully at the age of 50, in the presence of his devoted wife and family, following a courageous battle with cancer. more

Some brain signals are rhythmic, others non‑rhythmic – the latter long dismissed as mere neural noise. Now, an international research team led by the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Moritz Gerster, Arno Villringer, and Vadim Nikulin) has revealed that this so‑called “noise” represents a previously overlooked signature that reflects Parkinson’s disease symptoms. The new study, published in eBioMedicine, analyzed data from 119 patients—making it one of the largest investigations of its kind.
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