PD Dr. Peter Schneider | Non-tenured associate professor
I am leader of the Music and Brain research group and I am currently working as a neuroscientist and physicist at the Center for Systematic Musicology in Graz (Austria). Being a church musician myself, my research interests comprise auditory abilities (e.g., pitch perception) and dysfunctions (e.g., tinnitus), as well as musical learning and aptitude. In my research projects, I am exploring these interests from a neuroscientific perspective focusing on auditory cortex functioning and morphology. E-Mail: schneider@musicandbrain.de

PD Dr. Annemarie Seither-Preisler | Non-tenured associate professor
I am currently working as a researcher and lecturer at the Centre for Systematic Musicology at University of Graz, Austria. After my studies in Psychology and Biology I gained research experience in Munich and Münster as a postdoctoral researcher. My habilitation in Psychology (University of Graz) was on individual differences in the perception of musical sounds and its neural correlates. Since 2009 the common focus our international research group is on the neural markers of musical aptitude and the developmental and training-induced neuroplasticity of the auditory system. In particular, we are interested in behavioral and neurological benefits of musical training for children and adolescents with developmental disorders and learning deficits (dyslexia, ADHD, ADD) in comparison to a normally developing control group. E-Mail: annemarie.seither-preisler@uni-graz.at

Prof. Valdis Bernhofs
I am currently working as lecturer and vice chancellor for musical theory at the Music Academy Latvia. Besides, I am conducting a number of research projects exploring aspects related to musical performance and neurofeedback.E-Mail: valdis.bernhofs@jvlma.lv

Prof. Elke Hofmann
Ear training professor at Hochschule für Musik Basel. Being a recorder player, pianist, music theorist, and an ambitious hobby singer and programmer myself, I worked together with Peter Schneider since 2001 within several research projects on pitch perception, bass-hearing, as well as absolute and relative pitch. I am particularly interested in individual differences in musical perception of professional musicians & music students. E-Mail: elke.hofmann@fhnw.ch

Dr. sc. hum. Jan Benner
Neuroscientist, audio engineer and musician (guitar).
Since 2010, I have been researching the neuronal properties of the musical brain and the individual fingerprint of sound perception as part of the ‘Music & Brain’ research group. My research work has been carried out as part of international research projects in long-term collaborations between the universities of Heidelberg, Basel and Graz. My current focus is the research and development of a new concept for individualized auditory training (AULOS) at the ‘Hörakademie Heidelberg’, in close cooperation with the new working group ‘Music Psychology and Brain Research’ at the University of Graz. E-Mail: benner@musicandbrain.de

Dr. Markus Christiner
As a musician and linguist I have worked in various domains, including language teaching and music education. I am particularly interested in exploring the link between language, music and singing and have developed my own, innovative language aptitude test (MULTAP). I am currently writing my PhD thesis at the University of Vienna and was awarded a Doc-team fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. E-Mail: christiner@musicandbrain.de

Dr. Tine Gross
I have recently finished my PhD thesis on individual differences in auditory profiles of children diagnosed with ADHD. Therein I investigated if and to what extent musical training may impact the development of children with respect to auditory processing capacity. I help organizing and conducting the current longitudinal study in Heidelberg, while working in music therapy. E-Mail: gross@musicandbrain.de

MD Dorte Engelmann
I have been scientific member of the team since the very beginning and I am mainly responsible for organizing and planning the longitudinal study. My research interests comprise MEG, computer testing of musical abilities and pitch perception. At the moment, I am investigating in how far external and internal variables impact children’s decisions to pursue musical education. E-Mail: engelmann@musicandbrain.de

Dr. Sabrina Turker
Teacher, linguist and neuroscientist from Graz, Austria. Being both a teacher and linguist, I have always been particularly interested in the neural basis of language learning and processing, which is also why I explored the neuroanatomical correlates of language aptitude in my dissertation. My major interests comprise the relationship between language learning ability and musicality/musical ability. I support our research group in Heidelberg by helping with organizational matters, planning and the conduction of the study itself (i.e., data collection). At the moment I am recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship of the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung (2020-2022) and working in the research group on Cognition and Plasticity at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. My current study investigates reading networks in individuals with and without dyslexia. E-Mail: turker@musicandbrain.de

PhD Bettina Zeidler
I studied systematic musicology in Würzburg and Hamburg and joined the team in 2016 as a scientific assistant within our ongoing longitudinal study in Heidelberg. I have just started writing my master thesis dealing with the intricate relationship between more general cognitive abilities (e.g. language, working memory) and auditory processing ability.

PhD Steffen Bücher
In my current PhD thesis I am trying to shed light onto the relationship between abstract thinking in prefrontal cortex and auditory cortex. Besides, I am working as a professional musician and in cultural education contexts in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. E-Mail: buecher@musicandbrain.de

MD Bettina Serrallach
Currently working as radiologist at the hospital St. Gall in Switzerland, I am continuing my involvement in studies of the team in Heidelberg. I am particularly interested in the neuro-auditory profiles of individuals with AD(H)D and just recently, I have started working on an combined fMRI and EEG project involving adults suffering from AD(H)D.