Our Research

Intelligence is the ability to achieve complex goals. However, the way in which the animal mind calculates, plans and makes decisions – alone or in groups – remains a mystery. Moreover, "intelligence" and "behavior" are only parts of biological intelligence, which encompasses a great diversity of solutions that animals develop to overcome environmental problems in order to ensure their survival and fitness. Often, the nervous system is a central component of an organism's specific adaptation to an ecological problem, but is not central to biological intelligence. This develops in the course of evolution through the interaction of genes, cells and organs, as an organism interacts with other individuals and with local and global environmental conditions.

At the Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Intelligence, we aim to investigate the strategies that animals employ to solve problems, pursue goals and exploit niches, across all time scales and levels of biological organization. We investigate, among other things, how…

  • animals learn, make decisions and pass on knowledge
  • the brain finds new solutions to problems  
  • physiological processes, organs or body structures adapt to changing environmental conditions
  • genes and the environment influence animal behavior and communication
  • behavioral strategies develop over the course of evolution
  • neuronal circuits process sensory inputs and convert them into behaviors

Our basic research strives to decipher how biological intelligence works on different levels: from individual genes and cells, via complex structures such as the brain, to entire organisms and their interactions with the environment. We use a wide range of experimental methods and combine research in the laboratory, under nature-like conditions at the institute and in the wild. The following pages introduce our overarching and often interlinked research topics.

Illustration of a synapse, the contact site between two neurons, and its typical features: pre-synaptic neuron containing mitochondria and vesicles filled with neurotransmitters; post-synaptic neuron containing membrane proteins that serve as receptors for the neurotransmitters.

Origin and Function of Neurons
Illustration of a network, consisting of colorful spheres connected by white lines. Two mice, a bird, flies and a fish are shown next to the network.

Neuronal Networks and Brain Complexity
Illustration of a mouse sniffing a flower and neurons forming a network, on which a mouse and a bird are sitting. Next to them, a few flies.

Senses, Perception and Communication
Illustration with flies, fish, a mouse and a bird that move through a labyrinth. Seen from above, the walls and paths of the labyrinth are reminiscent of the surface structures of a brain.

Learning and Memory
Illustration containing two birds, three fish and five flies next to a DNA double helix.

Behavior and Interactions
Illustration of birds in a tree, fish in water, mice on land and flies in air against a landscape at night.

Environment, Genetics and Evolution
Web-View
Print Page
Open in new window
Estimated DIN-A4 page-width
Go to Editor View