Wissenschafterin
Leiterin Fachbereich Biologie
Leiterin Musicality and Bioacoustics
Maschinelles Lernen

Tel: +43 1 51581-2556
Email: marisa.hoeschele(at)oeaw.ac.at

(Derzeit in Karenz)

Wissenschaftliche IDs:
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2102-0882
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marisa_Hoeschele
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NctRG2sAAAAJ&hl=en

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Marisa Hoeschele got a B.A. in Psychology at the University of Guelph, Canada in 2006. After that she completed an M.Sc. and PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Comparative Cognition and Behaviour at the University of Alberta, Canada in 2013. In 2013 she moved to Vienna as a post-doc and built the budgerigar laboratory at the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna. In October 2018 she moved to the Acoustics Research Institute to build the “Musicality and Bioacoustics” research group where the budgerigar laboratory now resides. In December 2022 she received her Habilitation from the University of Vienna. 

Derzeitige Forschung

Marisa Hoeschele conducts cross-species research on how humans compare to other species in their perception, production and appreciation of sound.

In a short clip titled "Was erzählen Wellensittiche?" the research scientist gives an insight into her research (produced by private TV broadcaster Servus TV, content in German) link

ISF Publikationen

  • Name use by companion parrots. / Benedict, Lauryn; Groiss, Viktoria; Hoeschele, Marisa et al.
    in: PLoS ONE, Jahrgang 21, Nr. 4, e0346830, 17.04.2026, S. e0346830.
    DOIRISENWBIB

    Humans organize social interactions in part by referring to others using proper names (hereafter "names"). Names might also facilitate the complex social lives of animals. Several animal species produce name-like signature sounds in nature and can vocally target interaction partners, but researchers hesitate to equate these sounds with the human linguistic concept of a name. A more direct way to ask if diverse species can learn names and use them appropriately is with animals that learn human words and phrases. Accordingly, we used survey data to determine whether parrots that live with humans regularly learn names and can potentially use them as individual vocal labels for people and animals. Survey takers were asked about word and phrase use by companion parrots; 47% of reports on 884 birds included examples of name use, with those 413 parrots speaking 802 phrases that included names. For a subset of these individuals, survey-takers provided contextual information that allowed us to assess whether parrots used names in ways consistent with vocal labeling. Parrots used names in a range of social situations, including greetings, separations, and when seeking attention. Reports on 88 different birds of 30 species suggested that parrots applied names appropriately as vocal labels for humans and animals, with strong evidence that some birds applied names only to single individuals and not as category labels. At the same time, many parrots used names in contexts outside of typical human linguistic conventions, such as seeking attention by vocalizing their own name. Results indicate that captive parrots learn and use names in a variety of situations, sometimes applying them as vocal labels when communicating with or about others. This suggests that parrots have the cognitive and vocal capacity to use names but leaves many open questions about how animals label individuals using vocal signals.

  • Novel Approach to Inter-Onset-Interval Ratio Uncovers Music-Like Rhythmic Patterns in Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) Warble Song. / van der Aa, Jeroen; Koliander, Günther; Fitch, W. Tecumseh et al.
    in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Jahrgang 2025, Nr. 1, 16.12.2025.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia. / Many Birds Project.
    in: PLoS Biology, Jahrgang 23, Nr. 10, e3003394, 14.10.2025, S. e3003394.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • What an Animal Cognition Researcher Who Did Not Think They Studied Occasion Setting Might Take Home From This Conversation. / Hoeschele, Marisa.
    in: Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, Jahrgang 20, 01.04.2025, S. 41-44.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Looking to the Future: What Is to Come for Comparative Cognition? / Stahlman, W; Hoeschele, M.
    in: Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, Jahrgang 19, 01.09.2024, S. 1-2.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Defining octave equivalence and a comparative approach to understanding its biological foundations. / Wagner, B; Bowling, D; Hoeschele, M.
    in: Current Anthropology, Jahrgang 65, Nr. 3, 15.06.2024, S. 518-520.
    RISENWBIB
  • Do rats (Rattus norvegicus) perceive octave equivalence, a critical human cross-cultural aspect of pitch perception? / Wagner, B; Toro, J; Mayayo, F et al.
    in: Royal Society Open Science, Jahrgang 11/5, 29.05.2024, S. 221181.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Iterative learning experiments can help elucidate music's origins. / Hoeschele, M.
    in: Learning and Behavior, 11.03.2024.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • A comparison between common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and human infants sheds light on traits proposed to be at the root of human octave equivalence. / Wagner, B; Šlipogor, V; Oh, J et al.
    in: Developmental Science, Jahrgang 26, Nr. 5, 16.08.2023, S. e13395.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Using knowledge about human vocal behaviour to understand acoustic communication in animals and the evolution of language and music. / Hoeschele, M; Mann, D; Wagner, B et al.
    Acoustic Communication in Animals: From insect wingbeats to human music. Singapore: Springer, 2023. S. 1-26.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) discriminate between naturally-ordered and scramble-ordered chick-a-dee calls and individual preference is related to rate of learning. / Campbell, K; Hoeschele, M; Mann, D et al.
    in: Behavioural Processes, Jahrgang 206, 09.02.2023, S. 104842.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Lessons learned in animal acoustic cognition through comparisons with humans. / Hoeschele, M; Wagner, B; Mann, D.
    in: Animal Cognition, 27.12.2022.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Cross-species studies on the origins of musicality. / Hoeschele, Marisa.
    Wien: Universität Wien, 2022.
    RISENWBIB
  • Pitch chroma information is processed in addition to pitch height information with more than two pitch range categories. / Wagner, B; Sturdy, C; Weisman, R et al.
    in: Attention Perception and Psychophysics, Jahrgang 84, 01.10.2022, S. 1757-1771.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Endogenous oxytocin, cortisol, and testosterone in response to group singing. / Bowling, D; Gahr, J; Ancochea, Graf et al.
    in: Hormones and Behavior, Jahrgang 139, 01.07.2022.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Cultural evolution: Conserved patterns of melodic evolution across musical cultures. / Hoeschele, M; Fitch, W.
    in: Current Biology, Jahrgang 32/6, 28.03.2022, S. 265-267.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • The links between pitch, timbre, musicality and social bonding from cross-species research. / Wagner, B; Hoeschele, M.
    in: Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, Jahrgang 17, 01.01.2022, S. 13-32.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Progress without exclusion in the search for an evolutionary basis of music. / Bowling, D; Hoeschele, M; Dunn, J.
    in: Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Jahrgang 44, 01.12.2021, S. e97.
    DOIDownloadRISENWBIB
  • Universal principles underlying segmental structures in parrot song and human speech. / Mann, D; Fitch, W; Tu, H et al.
    in: Scientific Reports, Jahrgang 11, 01.12.2021.
    RISENWBIB
  • Using pitch discrimination tasks to tease apart the effects of pitch height and octave equivalence in our perception. / Wagner, B; Sturdy, C; Weisman, R et al.
    Jahrestagung für Akustik. Wien, 2021.
    RISENWBIB
  • Is consonance attractive to budgerigars? No evidence from a place preference study. / Wagner, B; Bowling, D; Hoeschele, M.
    in: Animal Cognition, Jahrgang 23(5), 01.12.2020, S. 973-987.
    RISENWBIB
  • Segmental units in non-human animal vocalization as a window into meaning, structure, and the evolution of language. / Mann, D; Hoeschele, M.
    in: Animal Behavior and Cognition, Jahrgang 7, 01.12.2020, S. 151-158.
    RISENWBIB
  • Novel methodology to assess vocal learning in nature. / Hoeschele, M.
    in: Animal Learning and Behavior, Jahrgang 48, 01.12.2019, S. 1-2.
    RISENWBIB
  • Octave equivalence perception is not linked to vocal mimicry: budgerigars fail standardized operant tests for octave equivalence. / Wagner, B; Mann, D; Staubmann, G et al.
    in: Behaviour, Jahrgang 156, 01.12.2019, S. 479–504.
    DOIRISENWBIB
  • Common marmosets are sensitive to simple dependencies at variable distances in an artificial grammar. / Reber, R; Slipogor, V; Oh, J et al.
    in: Evolution and Human Behavior, Jahrgang 40(2), 01.12.2019, S. 214-221.
    RISENWBIB
  • Statistical parametric synthesis of budgerigar songs. / Gutscher, L; Pucher, M; Lozo, C et al.
    SSW10 - The 10th ISCA Speech Synthesis Workshop. Vienna, 2019. S. 127-131.
    RISENWBIB
  • Temporal modulation in speech, music and animal vocal communication: evidence of conserved function. / Filippi, P; Hoeschele, M; Spierings, M et al.
    in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Jahrgang 1453(1), 01.10.2019, S. 99 - 113.
    DOIRISENWBIB

Weitere Publikationen

  • Oh, J., Hoeschele, M., Reber, S., Šlipogor, V., Bugnyar, T., & Fitch, W.T. (2018). A technological framework for running and analyzing animal head turning experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 50(3), 1154-1165.
  • Hoeschele, M., Merchant, H., Kikuchi, Y., Hattori, Y., & ten Cate, C. (2018). Searching for the origins of musicality across species. In H. Honing (Ed.), The Origins of Musicality pp.  149-170. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • McMillan, N., Avey, M.T., Bloomfield, L.M., Guillette, L.M., Hahn, A.H., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2017). Avian Vocal Perception: Bioacoustics and Perceptual Mechanisms. In C. ten Cate & S. Healy (Eds), Avian Cognition pp. 249-269. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Bowling, D. L., Hoeschele, M., Gill, K. Z., Fitch, W. T. (2017). The nature and nurture of musical consonance. Music Perception, 35, 118-121.
  • Filippi, P., Congdon, J.V., Hoang, J., Bowling, D.L., Reber, S.A., Pašukonis, A., Hoeschele, M., Ocklenburg, S., de Boer, B., Sturdy, C.B., Newen, A., & Güntürkün, O. (2017). Humans recognize emotional arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates: Evidence for acoustic universals. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284(1859), 20170990.
  • Hoeschele, M. (2017). Animal pitch perception: melodies and harmonies. Comparative Cognition and Behaviour Reviews, 12, 5-18.
  • Hoeschele, M. (2017). Preface to the special issue on animal music perception. Comparative Cognition and Behaviour Reviews, 12, 1-4.
  • Hahn, A.H., Guillette, L.M., Hoeschele, M., Otter, K.A., Ratcliffe, L.M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2017). Discrimination of male black-capped chickadee songs: Relationship between acoustic preference and performance accuracy. Animal Behaviour, 126, 107-121.
  • Toro, J.M., & Hoeschele, M. (2017). Generalizing prosodic patterns by a non-vocal learning mammal. Animal Cognition, 20(2), 179-185.
  • Hoeschele, M., & Bowling, D.L. (2016). Sex differences in rhythmic preferences in the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus): A comparative study with humans. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1543.
  • Hoeschele, M., & Fitch, W.T. (2016). Phonological perception by birds: Budgerigars can perceive lexical stress. Animal Cognition, 19(3), 643-654.
  • Hahn, A.H., Hoeschele, M., Guillette, L.M., Hoang, J., McMillan, N., Congdon, J.V., Campbell, K.A., Mennill, D.J., Otter, K.A., Grava, T., Ratcliffe, L.M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2016). Black-capped chickadees categorize songs based on features that vary geographically. Animal Behaviour, 112, 93-104.
  • Hoeschele, M., Merchant, H., Kikuchi, Y., Hattori, Y., & ten Cate, C. (2015). Searching for the origins of musicality across species. Philosophical Transactions B, 370(1664), 20140094.
  • Guillette, L.M., Hahn, A.H., Hoeschele, M., Pryzslupski, A-M, & Sturdy, C.B. (2015). Individual differences in learning speed, performance accuracy and exploratory behaviour in black-capped chickadees. Animal Cognition, 18(1), 165-178.
  • Hoeschele, M., & Fitch, W. T. (2014). Comparative method for determining lexical stress in nonsense words. The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference, 451-452.
  • Hoeschele, M., Cook, R.G., Guillette, L.M., Hahn, A.H., & Sturdy, C.B. (2014). Timbre influences chord discrimination in black-capped chickadees but not humans. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 128, 387-401.
  • Avey, M.T., Bloomfield, L.L., Elie, J.E., Freeberg, T.M., Guillette, L.M., Hoeschele, M., Lee, H., Moscicki, M.K., Owens, J.L. & Sturdy, C.B. (2014). ZENK Activation in the Nidopallium of Black-capped Chickadees in Response to Both Conspecific and Heterospecific calls. PLoS One, 9(6): e100927.
  • Weisman, R.G., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2014). A Comparative Analysis of Auditory Perception in Humans and Songbirds: a Modular Approach. Behavioural Processes, SQAB special issue, 104, 35-43.
  • Hahn, A.H., Guillette, L.M., Hoeschele, M., Mennill, D.J., Otter, K.A., Grava, T., Ratcliffe, L.M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2013). Dominance and geographic information contained within black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) song. Behaviour, 150(13), 1601-1622.
  • Hahn, A.H., Guillette, L.M., Hoeschele, M., Cook, R.G., & Sturdy, C.B. (2013). Categories, concepts, and calls: Auditory perceptual mechanisms and cognitive abilities across different types of birds. Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 19, 010042.
  • Hoeschele, M.,Weisman, R.G., Guillette, L.M., Hahn, A.H., & Sturdy, C.B. (2013). Chickadees fail standardized operant tests for octave equivalence. Animal Cognition, 16, 599-609.
  • Guillette, L.M., Hoeschele, M., Hahn, A.H., & Sturdy, C.B. (2013). Heterospecific discrimination of Poecile vocalization by zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of Comparative Psychology,127, 227-236.
  • Weisman, R.G., Mewhort, D.J.K., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). New perspectives on absolute pitch in birds and mammals. In E.A. Wasserman & T.R. Zentall (Eds), Handbook of Comparative Cognition pp. 67-82. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Hoeschele, M., Weisman, R.G., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Pitch chroma discrimination, generalization and transfer tests of octave equivalence in humans. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(8), 1742-1760.
  • Weisman, R.G., Balkwill, L-L. Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Identifying Absolute Pitch Possessors Without Using A Note-Naming Task. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain, 22(1), 46-54.
  • Hoeschele, M. Cook, R.G., Guillette, L.M., Hahn, A.H., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Auditory same/different concept learning and generalization in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). PLoS One, 7(10), e47691.
  • Proppe, D.S., Avey, M.T., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Farrell, T., Cassady St. Clair, C., Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Black-capped chickadees sing at higher pitches with elevated anthropogenic noise, but not with decreasing canopy cover. Journal of Avian Biology, 43, 325-332.
  • Hoeschele, M., Guillette, L.M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Biological relevance of acoustic signal affects discrimination performance in a songbird. Animal Cognition, 15(4), 677-688.
  • Hoeschele, M., Cook, R.G., Guillette, L.M., Brooks, D.I. & Sturdy, C.B. (2012). Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and human (Homo sapiens) chord discrimination. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 126(1), 57-67.
  • Avey, M.T., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Neural correlates of threat perception: Neural equivalence of conspecific and heterospecific mobbing calls is learned. PLoS ONE 6(8), e23844.
  • Moscicki, M.K., Hoeschele, M., Bloomfield, L.L., Modanu, M., Charrier, I., & Sturdy, C. B. (2011). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 129(5), 3327-3340.
  • Guillette, L.M., Reddon, A.R., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2011). Sometimes slower is better: Slow-exploring birds are more sensitive to changes in a vocal discrimination task. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 278, 767-773.
  • Moscicki, M.K., Hoeschele, M., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Note types and coding in parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the Mexican chickadee Poecile sclateri. Acta Ornithologica 45(2), 147-160.
  • Guillette, L.M., Farrell, T.M., Hoeschele, M. &Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Acoustic mechanisms of a species-based discrimination of the chick-a-dee call in sympatric black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (P. gambeli). Frontiers in Psychology 1(229), 1-10.
  • Weisman, R.G., Hoeschele, M., Bloomfield, L.L., Mewhort, D., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Using Network Models of Absolute Pitch to Compare Frequency-Range Discriminations across Avian Species. Behavioural Processes, 84, 421-427.
  • Weisman, R.G., Balkwill, L.L., Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Bloomfield, L.L., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Absolute Pitch in Boreal Chickadees and Humans: Exceptions that Test a Phylogenetic Rule. Learning and Motivation 41(3), 156-173. (Memorial Issue for Stewart Hulse).
  • Hoeschele, M., Moscicki, M.K., Otter, K.A., van Oort, H., Fort, K.T., Farrell, T.M., Lee, H., Robson, S.W.J., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Dominance Signalled in an Acoustic Ornament. Animal Behaviour 79, 657-664.
  • Guillette, L.M., Farrell, T.M., Hoeschele, M., Nickerson, C.M. Dawson, M.R.W., & Sturdy, C.B. (2010). Mechanisms of call note type perception: Peak shift in a note type continuum. Journal of Comparative Psychology 124(1), 109-115.
  • Hoeschele, M., Gammon, D., Moscicki, M.K., & Sturdy, C.B. (2009). Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations. The Chick-a-dee call of the Chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufuscens). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 126(4), 2088-2099.
  • Zhou, Y., Leri, F., Cummins, E., Hoeschele, M., & Kreek, M.J. (2008). Involvement of arginine vasopressin and V1b receptor in heroin withdrawal and heroin seeking precipitated by stress and by heroin. Neuropsychopharmacology33(2), 226-236.