Markus Foramitti

Research Profile

Stress, Emotion, and Music: psychophysiology meets computational cultural analysis

Markus Foramitti, MSc, is University Assistant at the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, and PhD Candidate advised by Univ.-Prof. Urs Markus Nater.

Publications Experience Contact

About

I investigate how stress and emotion are shaped by auditory and cultural environments, from historical metallic idiophones to contemporary song lyrics. My work combines psychophysiology (including ECG, HRV, and EDA), experimental designs, and computational analyses of large-scale music and language data.

I am affiliated with the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Vienna and the Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience Doctoral School (CoBeNe).

Affiliation

Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna

Liebiggasse 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria

Since 2024: University Assistant

Research Interests

  • Psychophysiology of stress and emotion
  • Music psychology and auditory perception
  • Computational analysis of emotion and stress in cultural data

Employment

  • Since 2024
    University Assistant, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna
  • 2023-2024
    Software Development and Data Analysis, R&D, Continental (Vienna)
  • 2023
    Research Assistant, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
  • 2022-2023
    Research Assistant, FWF Project "Metallic Idiophones", Natural History Museum Vienna

Education

  • Since 2024
    PhD Candidate in Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna (Advisor: Univ.-Prof. Urs Markus Nater)
  • 2022-2024
    MSc in Psychology (Cognitive and Neuropsychology), University of Vienna
  • 2019-2022
    BSc in Psychology, University of Vienna
  • 2018-2022
    BA in Musicology, University of Vienna

Research

Current projects connect laboratory studies of stress regulation with computational analyses of music and language in society.

Project 01

Auditory Interventions for Stress Reduction

Randomized controlled studies on the effects of auditory interventions on psychological and physiological stress responses.

Project 02

Historical Idiophones and Stress Modulation

Interdisciplinary work on how original and replica metallic sound objects affect auditory perception and stress-related outcomes.

Project 03

Collective Emotion in Song Lyrics (1973-2023)

Diachronic computational analysis of stress, sentiment, and linguistic complexity in US Billboard lyrics across societal crises.

Selected Publications

  1. Foramitti, M., Nater, U. M., Lamm, C., & Martins, M. (2025). Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023. Scientific Reports, 15, Article 41733. [DOI]
  2. Muehlhans, J., Foramitti, M., & Pomberger, B. M. (2024). How do we perceive the sounds of both original and replica archaeological metal sound objects? An interdisciplinary study. Journal of Music Archaeology, 2, 89-113. [DOI]

Selected Talks

  • 2026 (Feb): 24 Hours of Political Psychology, Vienna. Societal crises and long-term lyric trends.
  • 2026 (Feb): VDS CoBeNe PhD Academy, Vienna. Auditory interventions for stress reduction.
  • 2025 (Dec): The Nature of Music Conference, Vienna. Collective emotion in flux (1973-2023).
  • 2025 (Oct): 5th WASAD Congress, Munich. Regulating collective emotion through music.

Selected Posters

  • 2025 (Oct): WASAD, Munich. Effects of historical metallic idiophones on stress responses.
  • 2025 (Aug): ICBM 2025. Effects of historical idiophones on stress.
  • 2025 (Aug): ICBM 2025. Societal mood regulation through music lyrics.
  • 2024 (Sep): 53rd DGPs Congress, Vienna. Ringing the stress away.

Teaching

  • 2026: Advanced Seminar (Clinical and Health Psychology), "Music and Psychological Well-Being", University of Vienna
  • 2025: Advanced Seminar (Clinical and Health Psychology), "Stress in Theory and Praxis", University of Vienna
  • Since 2024: Co-mentor of 9 Master thesis students
  • Since 2024: Supervision of 10+ interns in research projects

Awards and Grants

  • 2026: ECR Travel Grant, University of Vienna
  • 2025: ECR Travel Grant, University of Vienna
  • 2023: Research Grant (Foerderstipendium), University of Vienna
  • 2022: Travel Grant, German Society for Music Psychology
  • 2019: Merit Scholarship, University of Vienna

Technical Skills

Python, R, C, JASP, SPSS, JavaScript, OpenSesame, Tableau, SQL, time-series analysis, physiological data analysis (ECG, HRV, EDA).

Outreach and Press

Coverage and interviews featured by ORF2, FM4, Sveriges Radio, Radio New Zealand, Der Spiegel, Tagesschau, Die Zeit, and APA.

Public outreach: Kinderuni Wien workshop on stress and coping (2025).