Fredrik Ullén

Fredrik Ullén is a Full Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and serves as Scientific Member and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt am Main since 2021. Previously, he held academic positions at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where he was appointed Associate Professor in 2006 and promoted to Full Professor in 2010.

His educational background includes:

• PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience (1996, Karolinska Institute)
• Piano Studies Diploma (1993, Royal College of Music, Stockholm)

Professor Ullén's research bridges cognitive neuroscience and empirical aesthetics, with specialized focus on music cognition and the neural mechanisms of artistic expertise. His unique dual career as an internationally acclaimed concert pianist directly informs his scientific investigations into creativity, performance psychology, and aesthetic judgment. Current work examines how complex musical structures are processed in the brain and the cognitive foundations of artistic interpretation.

As Director of the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, he oversees an interdisciplinary research environment dedicated to understanding the biological and psychological bases of aesthetic experiences across art forms. The institute fosters collaborations between neuroscientists, psychologists, and humanities scholars to develop rigorous empirical approaches to aesthetic phenomena.