Master Thesis

General Psychology

Supervisors:

Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Psych. Dr. Helmut Leder

• empirical aesthetics, art perception
• face attractiveness, effects of beauty
• field studies on beauty in urban environments
• museum studies
• physiology, brain, emotion and beauty

Here you can find currently open master thesis topics including contact information.

Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Thomas Slunecko

On the homepage of the cultural psychology team you can find a compilation of master theses with a focus on cultural psychology and/or papers that deal with psychologically relevant phenomena using qualitative methods.

Ass.-Prof. Matthew Pelowski, PhD

ARTIS Lab (Art Research on Transformations of Individuals and Society; Ass.-Prof. Pelowski, Ass.-Prof Cognitive and Neuroaesthetics): We specialize on research considering the intersection of the individual perceiver and ‘art’ (very broadly conceived). We explore especially how art experiences can impact—basically and, sometimes, profoundly—our emotions, cognition, perceptions, and how art experience might change how we think or behave.

New papers will be awarded in the following areas:

• We often focus on in-situ museum or gallery studies, employing ‘ecologically valid,’ mobile methods (movement tracking, eye tracking, brain imaging).
• Recently, we are also very interested in exploring how art experiences or specific artworks might have implications for wider societal challenges—health, wellbeing, current issues such as climate crisis or fostering understanding and empathy.
• In addition, we also conduct projects in the area of Neuroaesthetics or explorations of art and the brain. We use fNIRS (functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy) to assess viewer-art engagements in mobile, hands-free settings, in the act of art creation, and especially using two-person hyperscanning methods (i.e., assessing both artist and viewer brains) to identify inter-brain synchrony or the ability of art to elicit empathy or TOM processes.
• We are also currently conducting projects on the overlap of certain forms of non-neurotypicality (ASD) or neurodegeneration (dementia, Parkinson’s disease) and either unique profiles of or profound changes art-making and creativity.

Students interested in the possibility of a Master’s Thesis with Prof. Pelowski should contact him via email.

More information about the respective research areas of the supervisors, as well as open master thesis topics.

Biological Psychology (SCAN-Unit)

Prior experience in the field of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience, as well as grades in relevant courses, will be considered in the selection of applicants.

Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Claus Lamm, Ass.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Isabella Wagner, PhD

New papers will be awarded in the following areas:

• The SCAN Unit deals broadly with the neural basis of human social behavior. A special focus is on phenomena such as empathy and prosocial behavior; the methodological spectrum is broad and ranges from neuroscientific methods to representative behavioral studies. As a rule, the master students are closely integrated into existing, more extensive research projects, and thus learn the respective methods and topics "hands on". Master's theses are assigned on an ongoing basis, but students can also take the initiative and register on a list of interested parties who will be contacted as topics become available.
• In the associated working group of Isabella Wagner, the focus is on topics such as learning, memory, plasticity, aging, dementia, brain and gut microbiome, and combinations thereof. 

More information on new master thesis topics, prerequisites, and the two possible ways to obtain a master thesis topic, as well as a wealth of information on how to apply for a master seminar.

Cognitive Psychology

Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ansorge

New papers will be awarded in the following areas:

• Attention, meaning the focusing on the relevant and the filtering-out of the irrelevant information in multiple tasks such as reading, vehicle control, etc. Currently (2022), we investigate, e.g., the role of suppression of irrelevant information during the focusing on relevant information, the role of memory for visual selection, signatures of neuronally oscillating acitivity on perceptual sensitivity, or intermodal integration (here, haptics and hearing).
• Implicit measures, that is, measurements that depend on the intentions of the study participants but that do not require an insight into the subject of investigation and no explicit judgment of these subjects by the study participants, like priming effects based on stimuli that precede task-relevant targets and that are semantically or perceptually more or less similar to the targets or tests to reveal concealed information.
• Language, mostly influences of language on perception, but also insights into the nature of language.
• Experimental protocols that aim to collect objective data that are not easily modifiied by mere intentions of the study participants
• Eye-tracking
• Electroencephalography (EEG).

More information on research topics in which a master's thesis is conceivable. However, Master's thesis topics can also be suggested on the initiative.

Research methods

Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Frank Scharnowski, Univ.-Prof. MMag. DDDr. Martin Voracek, Privatdoz., Mag. Dr. Ulrich Tran, Privatdoz.

New papers will be awarded in the following areas:

• Assistance systems for psychiatric interventions
• Brain-computer-interfaces
• Neurofeedback
• Translational neuroimaging
• Machine learning
• Dynamic systems

More information on possible research topics and the respective contact persons.

Urban and Environmental Psychology

Supervisors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sabine Pahl

Master's theses are supervised every winter semester. Applications can be submitted during the previous semester (deadline: July 1).

New papers will be awarded in the following areas:

• Biological Conservation
• Environmentally Friendly Behavior
• Nature & Health

More information on possible research topics, deadlines, and how to apply.