Clemens MaidhofView profile
Research Fellow
Clemens Maidhof is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University. He joined the institution in 2016 after conducting research at the University of Cologne, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, and the Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Music Research. He holds an MA in Musicology from the University of Cologne and a PhD in Psychology from Freie Universität Berlin. Research Focus: His work bridges cognitive neuroscience and music therapy, with core interests in: Neural dynamics of clinical improvisation during therapy sessions Brain-computer music interfaces for therapeutic applications EEG hyperscanning techniques in dyadic therapist-patient interactions Syntactic processing parallels between music and language Error monitoring mechanisms in musicians' performance Multimodal data acquisition (EEG, motion capture, MIDI) His research consistently applies neuroscientific methods to clinical contexts including dementia care, stroke rehabilitation, and substance misuse treatment. Publication Trends: Maidhof's recent work (2019-2023) focuses on EEG hyperscanning applications in music therapy, particularly examining brain synchrony during therapeutic improvisation for neurological conditions. Earlier publications (2010-2014) established foundational research on error processing in musicians and cross-domain syntactic attention. His methodology evolved from single-modality ERP studies to complex multimodal hyperscanning designs. Professional Engagement: He regularly reviews for journals including NeuroImage , Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , and Frontiers in Psychology , and has presented at major conferences like the European Music Therapy Conference. He contributed to the BBC documentary Our Dementia Choir featuring clinical applications of his research.








