Judith Beck

What is the functional role of ‘rhythm’ in cognition? With a specific focus on empirical poetry research, my interest covers the field of intersectional language and music processing (perception and production) and the cognitive phenomenon of rhythm effects. By applying empirical methods to poetry reading, my main motivation is to better understand the importance of temporality and timing in brain-body-text-interaction in reading, encompassing the role of rhythmized vocalization and subvocalization in text comprehension and meaning-making in non-standardized language experience.

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HERZLICHEN DANK FÜR 4 WUNDERBARE ARBEITSJAHRE (2020-2024)

AN MEINER ALMA MATER IM TEAM DER UFR KOGNITIONSWISSENSCHAFT & GENDERFORSCHUNG! jb

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LANGUAGE, RHYTHM AND MUSIC

Project Manager: Konieczny L.

Start/End of project: since 2017

Project Details

ASSIST ALL

Project Manager: von Stülpnagel R., Höflinger F.

Start/End of project: 2019/2020

Project Details

Papers

Beck, J. & Konieczny, L. (2023). What a difference a syllable makes—Rhythmic reading of poetry. Frontiers in Psychology [Section Performance Science, Research Topic Rhythm Across the Arts and Sciences: A Synergy of Research], 14:1043651. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1043651

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2021). Rhythmic subvocalization: An eye-tracking study on silent poetry reading. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.16910/jemr.13.3.5

Conference Contributions

Carla Arnold, Judith Beck, Gerhard Lauer, Federico Pianzola, Frank Tsiwah (2025,  June, 12-13. Silent but Not Still: A Multimodal Analysis of Muscle Activation and Physiological Responses to Poetry and Prose Reading [Poster + presentation by C. Arnold, in-person]. TABU Dag 2025 – 45th International Linguistics Conference, University of Groningen, Netherlands.

Beck, J. & L. Konieczny (2024, August, 21-24). RHYTHMIC READING OF CONVENTIONAL POETRY: INVESTIGATING A COGNITIVE PHENOMENON. [Paper Presentation | Part of workshop: Poetic Language, organizers: Paul Widmer (University of Zurich), Barbara Sonnenhauser (LMU Munich)]. SLE 2024, Helsinki, Finnland (in-person).

Beck, J. (2024, July, 18-20). The experience of rhythm and beat in the silent reading of German poetry – a ‚perspectivity‘ shaped by musical activity? [Poster Presentation]. IGEL 2024, Aachen, Germany (in-person).

Beck, J. & Konieczny, L. (2023, September, 26–28). Oral/subvocalizational reading of conventional poetry: Experiencing rhythmic compositions and syllabic effects [Paper Presentation]. ENN7, Monopoli, Italy (in-person).

Beck, J. & Konieczny, L. (2023, September, 28–30). The spatiotemporal in-between of music and language: POETRY – ways to investigate phonemic paths, syllabic rhythmicity and metric phenomena [Symposium. Chair: J. Beck, Presenters: J. Beck, C. Hilton, T. Popescu, F. N. Silva]. IGEL 2023, Monopoli, Italy (in-person).

Beck, J. & Konieczny, L. (2023, August, 31–September, 2). What a difference a syllable makes – rhythmic oral reading of conventional poems [Poster Presentation]. AMLAP23, San Sebastian, Spain (in-person).

Beck, J. & Konieczny, L. (2022, October, 28). What a difference a syllable makes – rhythmic reading of poetry [Poster Presentation]. HPSL Day 2022 (Hermann Paul School of Linguistics Basel – Freiburg), Freiburg, Germany (in-person).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2022, August, 20–22). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading [Poster Presentation]. ELM 2022 (Expression, Language, Music). Storrs (CT), USA (in-person). 

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2022, July, 7–8). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading [Poster Presentation]. Music and Eye-Tracking 2022. Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt a. M., Germany (in-person).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2022, March, 21–23). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading [Symposium Talk: Cognition in the context of language and culture I: Processing and representing linguistic information; organized by: A. Rothe-Wulf]. TeaP 2022, Cologne, Germany (virtual).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2021, September, 2–4). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading  [Short Talk]. AMLaP 2021, Paris, France (virtual).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2021, June, 4–5). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading [Poster Presentation]. Art in Motion – Rhythm! (AIM), 2021. Munich, Germany (virtual).

Other

Upcoming:

Beck, J. (2025, Sep., 26). Rhythmic subvocalization in silent poetry reading [Talk]. For: Research seminar (Ass. Prof. Dr. Federico Pianzola) | Computational Humanities, University of Groningen, 2025, Groningen, Netherlands (in-person).

Beck, J., Tsiwah, F., Pianzola, F., Lauer, G., & Arnold, C. (2025, June 11). Evidence of Adaptive Subvocalized Reading: An EMG study of Muscle Activation during Silent Reading. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AN5Y6 [Research project (lead), collaboration]

Past:

Beck, J., &. Konieczny, L. (2025, July, 16). Oral/subvocalizational reading of conventional poetry: Experiencing rhythmic compositions and syllabic effects [Talk]. For: Seminar Poetry Slams und Dichter_innenlesungen (Prof. Dr. S. Pfänder, Prof. Dr. C. Sitting) | Joint Seminar ‚Romanistik’/Neuere deutsche Literatur‘, University of Freiburg, 2025, Freiburg, Germany (in-person).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2024, June, 12). Oral/subvocalizational reading of conventional poetry: Experiencing rhythmic compositions and syllabic effects [Lab Talk]. For: Workshop Freiburg – Mainz (with Prof. G. Lauer) |  Book and Reading Studies, University of Mainz, 2024. Mainz, Germany (in-person).

Beck, J., & Konieczny, L. (2024, January, 2). Oral/subvocalizational reading of conventional poetry: Experiencing rhythmic compositions and syllabic effects [Talk]. For: Seminar Audiotexte: Literature and Sound Studies (Prof. Dr. Claudius Sittig-Krippner, Prof. Dr. Evi Zemanek) | UFR, Faculty for ‚Neuere Deutsche Literatur‘ (in-person).

Beck, J. (2023, June, 21). Effects of rhythmic properties and phonemic qualities on oral/silent reading of conventional poetry [Lab Talk]. International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), 2023. Montreal, Canada (virtual).

Ferstl, E., Konieczny, L., von Stülpnagel, R., Beck, J., and Zacharski, L., (Eds.) (2022). Proceedings of KogWis2022, the 5th Biannual Conference of the German Society for Cognitive Science. Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. Sep. 5th-7th 2022. doi: 10.6094/UNIFR/229611

Awards, Grants & Scholarships

• Student Paper Award at IGEL 2023 (2023, September, 28–30), Monopoli, Italy (in-person).
• Travel & conference funding for ENN7 & IGEL 2023 by the Scientific Society Freiburg (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Freiburg social media)
• Programm Lernrückstände des Ministeriums für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg. Weitere Infos: MWK Sonderprogramm zur Abmilderung pandemiebedingter Lernrückstände
• Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (2004 – 2011)

Memberships

• Hermann Paul School of Linguistics (see HPSL)
• International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (see IGEL)
• Member of the German Society for Cognitive Science e.V.  (see GK e.V.)
• Assoziertes Mitglied PhD Program, Digital Humanities, Universität Basel, CH (see DHLab)
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Poesie- und Bibliotherapie, kreatives Schreiben und Biographiearbeit e.V. (see DGPB)
• Arbeitskreis Wissenschaft und Kunst Münchchen | Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (see Prinzregentensalon e.V.

Organizational activities

• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Biannual Conference of the German Cognitive Science Society, KogWis22 – Understanding Minds, September, 5 – 7, 2022, Freiburg (KogWis 2022 (uni-freiburg.de)

Other qualifications

• FRS-IGA digital course: Stress Management (2022, lead: Dr. Andrew Wold)
• FRS-IGA digital course: Konfliktmanagement (2022, lead: Dr. Anne Wilmers | Wilmers Kommunikation)
• WVF-Workshop/digital course: Einführung in die Analyse linearer gemischter Modelle (Mehrebenen-Analyse/Analyse hierarchischer Modelle) mit R und RStudio (2021, lead: Prof. Krummenacher)
• FRS-IGA digital course: Time Management (2020, lead: Dr. Matthias Mayer)
• FRS-IGA digital course: Mnemo-Techniken für Gespräche, Verhandlungen und Präsentationen – Steigern Sie Ihre Erinnerungsquote! (2020, lead: Jörg Blömeling)
• FRS-IGA digital course: Good Scientific Practice – Protecting Scientific Integrity (2020, lead: Dr. Debbie Radtke)
• Workshop on methods: Story world absorption in online reader’s review, at University of Basel (2019, lead: Dr. Moniek Kuijpers, funded by Schweizerischer Nationalfonds)
• Sommer school at RWTH Aachen, empirical literature science (2018, lead: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Lauer, Dr.
  Moniek Kuijpers)
• Certified Shared Reading Facilitator (2017), see Shared Reading bzw. The Reader
• Certified as leader for creative writing and biographical narration/orientation, based on the Integrative Poetry- and Bibliotherapy (2012-2017, Deutsches Institut für Poesie- und Bibliotherapie, EAG-FPI)

Extracurriculars

• Scientific Advisory Board at https://shared-reading.org/ (jb@shared-reading.org)
• „Schreibtherapeutische Methoden im studentischen Alltag“ [online talk]. For: WissensschUB, (01.07.2024). (virtual)
•  „Resilience, Mental self-support & Healthy communication patterns“ [Keynote]. For: 9. DokGF Netzwerktreffen, (26. April 2024). (in-person)
•  „Schreibtherapeutische Methoden im studentischen Alltag nutzen“ [Zoom Talk]. For: „Wie mache ich‘s besser? Stressfrei durch die Prüfungszeit“, UB-Activity day for students, (25.01.2024) +++ Referenz I. Falk [Abteilung Informationsdienste]: „Die Studierenden erhielten umfassende und sehr anregende Einblicke in die Möglichkeiten der Schreibtherapie. Zahlreiche Übungsvorschläge wurden vermittelt und Lektürehinweise zur Vertiefung gegeben. Im Feedback wurde deutlich, dass die Teilnehmenden die Veranstaltung dankbar angenommen und viele Inspirationen mitgenommen haben.“ +++
•  „Using Bibliotherapy in daily life“ [Workshop]. For: University Health Day, https://unifreiburg.
      de/universitaet/events/1876/, (04.10.2023)
•  „How to be (more) resilient during PhD“ [key lecture]. For: HPSL Day 2022, www.hpsl-linguistics.org, (28.10.2022).
• „Resilience – Basics & Hands-on tipps for PhD students“ [virtual presentation, 2 parts]. For: Arbeiterkind.de local group Freiburg (17.02.2022 & 17.03.2022).
• „Bibliotherapy“ [in-person presentation]. Together with Gerhard Lauer. For: Mental Health Days, Mind-Map University of Basel, (8.-9.9.2021).