Children compensate lack of concentration through creativity
Children have a hard time with tasks requiring concentration, but are often good at discovering hidden "tricks" to make the task easier. Spontaneous strategy changes help them to achieve this. The study on learning behavior in children by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin was published in the journal PloS ONE.
Long Night of the Sciences 2022
After a three-year break, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development finally opened its doors again on July 2, 2022 as part of the Long Night of the Sciences 2022 (#LNDW22). More than 600 visitors, from toddlers to seniors, attended the many booths, lectures, hands-on activities, and guided tours. The event was a great success for the Institute.
Wolfgang Edelstein Memorial Lecture
In memory of Director Wolfgang Edelstein, who passed away in 2020, the "Wolfgang Edelstein Memorial Lecture" took place on June 24. The event was hosted by Ute Frevert, Deputy Managing Director of the MPI for Human Development. The memorial speech was held by Heinz-Elmar Tenorth, Professor of Historical Education at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Jürgen Baumert Festive Symposium
On the occasion of Jürgen Baumert's 80th birthday, a symposium was held at the Harnack-Haus in Berlin in June 2022. Director of the Research Center Lifespan for Psychology, Ulman Lindenberger, Olaf Köller (IPN), and Simon Sommer (Jacobs Foundation) invited to the festivities. The Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger honored Jürgen Baumert's life's work with a laudation. In a lively discussion around the topic of "Digitization of Education" areas for action were uncovered.
Media Library
Would you like to get an insight into our Research? Browse through our Media Library and discover exciting videos and podcasts in which our Researchers have been involved.
We welcome the Max Planck Research Group Biology, Social Disparities and Development to our Institute
Laurel Raffington’s research group examines how social disparities affect child and adolescent development and lead to differential outcomes in education, health, and well-being across the life span. We warmly welcome the new group to the Institute and are looking forward to working with them.
Voluntary Social Year in Research
The Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience offers a Voluntary Social Year in Research for the second time. Research Group Leader Simone Kühn is currently accepting initiative applications for the next round.
People with less memory loss in old age gain more knowledge
Do cognitive abilities change together, or do they change independently of each other? An international research team from the USA, Sweden, and Germany involving the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has presented new findings now published in Science Advances.
Safely simulating risks in a pandemic
Is it possible to conduct experiments about risk-taking during pandemics without endangering participants? To safely investigate the effectiveness of public health interventions and simulate the dynamics of virus transmission, researchers from the University of Plymouth, UK, the IESE Business School in Spain and the MPI for Human Development have developed a game-based experiment.
Rethinking infectious disease control
Physical distancing policies and particularly stay-at-home work mandates have proven highly effective at slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But these measures have had numerous unwanted consequences, including dramatic reductions in economic productivity. Are there alternative methods that have the potential to simultaneously contain pandemic spread while also minimizing negative economic effects?
Naturally healthy: How much do adolescents know about food?
How natural a food product is plays a key role in how healthy it is perceived to be—not only by nutrition experts, but also by adolescents and young adults. At the same time, there is considerable variability in adolescents’ ratings of food products. These are the results of a new study conducted by researchers at the MPI for Human Development and Aarhus University, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
How the brain’s blue spot helps us focus our attention
How can we shift from inattentiveness to highest attention? The locus coeruleus, the “blue spot,” is a tiny cluster of cells at the base of the brain. As the main source of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, it helps us control our attentional focus. Researchers at the MPI for Human Development have now developed a framework describing the way the blue spot regulates our brain’s sensitivity to relevant information in situations requiring attention.
Well-dosed emotions
Emotions have a bad reputation in the political sphere. According to traditional dogma, political decisions should be rational and sensible, but under no circumstances should they be emotional. Reality, however, has always been somewhat different. The impact that feelings had and continue to have on political events and the rise and fall of leaders is the primary field of interest for Ute Frevert and her team at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Read more about this topic in the MaxPlanckResearch periodical.
Caution – toxic green!
Some plants produce toxins that can make us sick – or even kill us. Thus, a wariness of plants makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, especially for infants and toddlers. Annie Wertz is investigating which behaviors protect children from dangerous plants and how they learn from adults which plants are safe to eat. Read more about this in the current MaxPlanckResearch.
Fluid Feelings
Gender and emotions are all too often thought of in stereotypical images. Against such a background, this issue deals with ambiguities and deviations, that is, with the dynamic interplay of gender and emotion. In five contributions, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development conceive neither gender nor emotion as consistent categories, but rather as phenomena in motion that are constantly being created anew.
The Institute
Current Research Results
News
News
Children have a hard time with tasks requiring concentration, but are often good at discovering hidden "tricks" to ...
Is it possible to conduct experiments about risk-taking during pandemics without endangering participants? To safely ...
Physical distancing policies and particularly stay-at-home work mandates have proven highly effective at slowing the ...
Events
Media Echo
July 3, 2022
radioeins | #LNDW22: Im Schlaf lernen
May 27, 2022
MPG Talk | Ich bin dein Mensch
April 19, 2022
Hessischer Rundfunk | Läuft so mit – Spitzenpolitiker und ihre Familien
March 29, 2022
SWR2 | Oscar-Verleihung – Will Smith und die Ohrfeige
March 10, 2022
Deutschlandfunk | Angst von Soldaten - Tabuisierung kann zu Kriegsverbrechen führen
March 03, 2022
Deutschlandfunk | Die Wehrpflicht ist nur ausgesetzt
March 2, 2022
