Dr. Claudia Muth
cmuth(at)burg-halle.de
After her studies in design and cognitive science, Claude worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Bamberg and as a museum manager for the “Turm der Sinne” – a hands-on museum on perception based in Nuremberg. She has offered courses for students of psychology, design, art, music education, social work and cognitive science. In 2015, she completed her PhD in psychology (supervised by Prof. Claus-Christian Carbon). Currently, she holds a substitute professorship in ›Psychology of Design‹ at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle.
2021 M.A. Information Design at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg
2015 PhD Psychology at the University of Bamberg
2011 M.S. Cognitive Science at the University of Vienna
2007 B.A. Cultural Design at the University of Applied Sciences Schwäbisch Hall
Interests
Perception of art and design / Affective and aesthetic processes related to the perception of Gestalt, order and disorder / Experience of Semantic Instability (ambiguity, ambivalence, uncertainty, …) / Enactive, extended and embodied approaches to design / Artistic research
Publications
Muth, C. & Carbon, C. C. (2022). Ambivalence of artistic photographs stimulates interest and the motivation to engage. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/aca0000448
Muth, C., Westphal-Fitch, G., & Carbon, C. C. (2021). Seeking (dis)order. Ordering appeals but slight disorder and complex order trigger interest. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 15(3), 439–457. doi: 10.1037/aca0000284
Kölz, I., Muth, C., & Singiridis, L. (2021). Codes und Informationsdesign: Ein kollaboratives Schreibgespräch. Kuckuck – Notizen zur Alltagskultur, 1.
Muth, C., Briesen, J., & Carbon, C. C. (2020). ‘I like how it looks but it is not beautiful’. Sensory appeal beyond beauty. Poetics, 79. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2019.101376
Muth, C. & Carbon, C. C. (2019). When Art Is Not Mastered but Creates Insights. Shifting In and Out of Semantic Instability. Art & Perception, 7, 123-136. doi: 10.1163/22134913-20191118
Muth, C., Ebert, S., Marković, S., & Carbon, C. C. (2019). “Aha”ptics: Enjoying an Aesthetic Aha during haptic exploration. Perception, 48(1). doi: 10.1177/0301006618818014
Muth, C., Hesslinger, V. M., & Carbon, C. C. (2018). Variants of semantic instability (SeIns) in the arts: A classification study based on experiential reports. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 12(1), 11-23. doi: 10.1037/aca0000113
Muth, C., Albrecht, S., & Carbon, C. C. (2017). Affect and self-efficacy infuse the experience of ambivalent photographs.Psihologija, 50(3), 307-317.
Raab, M., Carbon, C. C., & Muth, C. (2017). Am Anfang war die Verschwörungstheorie. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-53883-8
Muth, C., Raab, M. H., & Carbon, C. C. (2017). Expecting the Unexpected: How Gallery Visitors Experience Semantic Instability in Art. Art & Perception,5(2), 1-22. doi: 10.1163/22134913-00002062
Muth, C., Raab, M. H., & Carbon, C. C. (2016). Semantic stability is more pleasurable in unstable episodic contexts. On the relevance of perceptual challenge in art appreciation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10(43). doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00043
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2016). SeIns: Semantic Instability in Art. Art & Perception, 4(1-2), 145-184. doi: 10.1163/22134913-00002049
Muth, C., Hesslinger, V., & Carbon, C. C. (2015). The appeal of challenge in the perception of art: How ambiguity, solvability of ambiguity and the opportunity for insight affect appreciation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 9(3), 206-216. doi: 10.1037/a0038814
Muth, C., Raab, M. H. and Carbon, C. C. (2015). The stream of experience when watching artistic movies. Dynamic aesthetic effects revealed by the continuous evaluation procedure (CEP). Frontiers in Psychology 6(365). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00365
Raab, M. H., Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2013). M5oX: Methoden zur multidimensionalen und dynamischen Erfassung des Nutzererlebens. In S. Boll- Westermann, S. Maaß & R. Malaka (Eds.), Workshopband Mensch & Computer 2013 (pp. 155-164). München: Oldenburg Verlag.
Muth, C., Pepperell, R., & Carbon, C. C. (2013). Give me gestalt! Preference for cubist artworks revealing high detectability of objects. Leonardo, 46(5), 488-489.
Muth C., Carbon, C. C. (2013). The Aesthetic Aha: On the pleasure of having insights into Gestalt. Acta Psychologica, 144(1), 25-30.
Science Communication
Since 2014: “Dem Widerstand auf der Spur”: Remembrance of people who opposed the political NAZI-system during 1933-1945 in Nuremberg, project by denk.akt, supported by Ernst-Rummel-Förderung, Verlag testimon.
2018/2019: Blended learning modules on “Creativity” for Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern (smart vhb).
2016/2017: Training for tour guides and conceptual work for a hands-on museum on perception and illusion “Turm der Sinne”, Nuremberg, www.turmdersinne.de.
2016/2017: Fellowship Didaktik:Digital, collaboration with Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, University of Bamberg and museum Bionicum: “Natur-Technik-Kognition”, supported by Joachim-Herz-Stiftung.
2014: Workshop at the international youth summer camp of the memorial Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen: “How does memory work, how can it be deceived and why do we need a culture of remembrance?” – a project by denk.akt.
2014: Design of an interactive exhibit on perception of motion for a hands-on museum on perception and illusion “Turm der Sinne”, Nuremberg, www.turmdersinne.de.
2013: Online-seminar for Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern (vhb) ”Visuelle Wahrnehmung und wie sie uns täuscht”.
Conference contributions
Talks
Muth, C. (2022). The affective „Aha“ – a dynamic account of pleasure through sense making. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psycholog:innen (TeaP), Köln/Germany (20.03. – 23.03.2022).
Muth, C. (2021). Unsolvable, yet Insightful – Semantic Instability in Art. Art and Affect in the Predictive Mind, York / UK / online (30.06. – 02.07.2021).
Muth, C. (2019). Vom Reiz des Mehrdeutigen zum Ästhetischen Aha. Gestaltung als Spiel mit Wahrnehmungsgewohnheiten. Akademie im Rathaus Stein. Stein/Germany (07.03.2019).
Muth, C., Briesen, J., & Carbon, C. C. (2019). Appealing non-beauty. 8th Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Leuven/Belgium (21.08.-24.08.2019).
Muth, C. & Carbon, C. C. (2018). Shifting in and out of semantic (in)stability. A dynamic view on interest in visual ambiguity, indeterminacy, and disorder. 6th Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Trieste/Italy (24.08.-26.08.2018).
Muth, C., Westphal-Fitch, G., & Carbon, C. C. (2017). Experiencing (dis)order. Interesting patterns diverge from an obvious order. 5th Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Berlin/Germany (25.08.-27.08.2017).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2017). The pleasures of Semantic Instability (SeIns) in art: if an artwork challenges our perceptual habits, insights are joyful and the promise of insights raises interest. 59th Conference of Experimental Psychologists (TeaP), Dresden/Germany (26.3.-29.3.2017).
Muth, C. & Carbon, C. C. (2016). Semantic Instability (SeIns) in the arts. How artworks affect us by inducing, complicating, and contradicting the formation of stable meanings. 4th Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Barcelona/Spain (27.08.-28.08.2014).
Muth, C. (2016). Das ästhetische Aha! Wie Kunst uns belohnt, auch wenn sie unlösbare Rätsel aufgibt. Von Sinnen—turmdersinne Planetarium, Nuremberg/Germany (22.3.-17.5.2016).
Hesslinger, V., Muth, C., Albrecht, S. & Carbon, C. C. (2014). A triangular approach to ambiguity in aesthetics. Integrating object-, person-, and context-related factors. Psychological Perspectives on Aesthetics, workshop at the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Germany (11.12.-13.12.2014).
Muth, C., Raab, M., & Carbon, C. C. (2014). Stream along the aesthetic mind. The dynamics of elaborating artistic movies. 37th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Belgrade/Serbia (24.08.-28.08.2014).
Muth, C., Raab, M., & Carbon, C. C. (2014). The dynamics of ‘Aesthetic Aha’: Insightful moments during the elaboration of artistic movies increase appreciation. 2nd Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Belgrade/Serbia (23.08.-24.08.2014).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2013). Ambiguity in art: about the various ways to irritation and their link to appreciation and ambiguity-tolerance. 55th conference of experimental psychologists (TeaP), Vienna/Austria (24.03.-27.03.2013).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2012). Ambiguity in art: Theories, definitions and empirical data. 1st Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Alghero/Italy (01.09.-02.09.2012).
Muth, C. (2012). The aesthetic aha. About the pleasure of having insights into Gestalt and its relevance for the appreciation of modern art. Art and perception, Paris/France (28.05.-29.05.2012).
Muth, C. (2010). The pleasure of enacting meaning: Aesthetic perception and pretend play. 13th International Multiconference Information Society, Ljubljana/Slovenia (11.10.-15.10.2010).
Muth, C. (2010). The relation of elaboration and liking in aesthetic perception: Aesthetics as the pleasure of enacting meaning. 4th MEi:CogSci Conference, Dubrovnik/Croatia (18.06.-19.06.2010).
Poster
Muth, C., Westphal-Fitch, G. & Carbon, C. C. (2022). Experience and interest shape the perception of order. 9th Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Amsterdam / Netherlands (24-27.08.2022).
Muth, C., Pastukhov, A. & Carbon, C. C. (2021). Anticipating transitions in a movie. On dynamic order and interesting dynamics. 43th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), online (22.08. – 27.08.2021).
Muth, C. & Carbon, C. C. (2019). Ambivalence of artistic photographs can foster interest and the motivation to engage. 42nd European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Leuven/Belgium (25.08.-29.08.2019).
Muth, C., Raab, M. H., & Carbon, C. C. (2018). Seeking (in)stability. Interest as a promise of Aesthetic Aha. Visual Neuroaesthetics Symposium (VisNA), Frankfurt/Germany (04.04.-06.04.2018).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2017). “Aha”ptics: Experiencing and enjoying an Aesthetic Aha during haptic exploration. 40th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Berlin/Germany (27.08.-31.08.2017).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2016). Interest is evoked by semantic instability and the promise of new insight. 39th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Barcelona/Spain (28.08.-01.09.2016).
Albrecht, S., Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2016). Challenge is interesting: On the appeal of hidden emotional Mooney Faces. 39th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Barcelona/Spain (28.08.-01.09.2016).
Muth, C., Hesslinger, V.M., & Carbon, C.C. (2015). Unsolvable, yet insightful: The appeal of indeterminate and ambiguous artworks. 38th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Liverpool/UK (23.08.-27.08.2015).
Muth, C., Raab, M.H., & Carbon, C.C. (2015). On the relationship between determinacy and art appreciation across different episodic contexts. 3rd Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Liverpool/UK (22.08.-23.08.2015).
Raab, M.H., Muth, C., & Carbon, C.C. (2014). What can the pupil size tell us about aesthetics? Towards a multidimensional model of complex continuous experience. 37th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Belgrade/Serbia (24.08.-28.08.2014).
Raab, M.H., Muth, C., & Carbon, C.C. (2014). Expecting the unexpected: Art gallery visitors judge ambiguous artistic film material as less indeterminate and more pleasurable. 2nd Visual Science of Art Conference (VSAC), Belgrade/Serbia (23.08.-24.08.2014).
Muth, C., Pepperell, R., & Carbon, C. C. (2013). In search of Gestalt. Detectability of objects within cubist artworks enhances appreciation. 36th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Bremen/Germany (25.08.-29.08.2013).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2012). There’s more than one way to irritation! An attempt to categorize ambiguity in art. 35th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Alghero/Italy (02.09.-06.09.2012).
Muth, C., & Carbon, C. C. (2011). The relation between elaboration and liking in perceiving ambiguous aesthetic stimuli. 34th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Toulouse/France (28.8.-01.9.2011).
Muth, C. (2009). Approaching active perception. 3rd MEi:CogSci Conference, Vienna/Austria (19.06.-20.06.2009).
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