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I am mainly interested in three lines of research:
First, how effective are non-invasive brain stimulation techniques as treatment for mental and neurological disorders? Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have become popular methods for treating depression, schizophrenia, stroke, and other mental and neurological disorders. Only for depression there is clear evidence so far that non-invasive brain stimulation effectively reduces symptoms. For all other disorders the efficacy is unclear. Moreover, I am interested in uncovering what the neural mechanisms are that underlie non-invasive brain stimulation treatment.
Secondly, how do cognitive gender differences arise? That is, the phenomenon that in certain cognitive tasks females and males consistently best each other. For example, females tend to outperform males in verbal memory, while males do better at mentally rotating abstract figures. I am interested in how the interaction of biological factors (e.g., sex hormones, genes), social factors (e.g., gender stereotypes), AND psychological factors (e.g., confidence) give rise to cognitive gender differences.
Thirdly, I am interested in what is advantageous about hemispheric specialization? Hemispheric specialization refers to the phenomenon that our two brain halves (=hemispheres) are specialized for different functions. For example, most of us talk with our left hemisphere but recognize faces with our right hemisphere. Why and what evolutionary advantage might this have bestowed upon us? Why are most of us right- and not left-handers and why has this been so for millenia?

Hemispheric specialization is also what binds these seemingly disconnected topics together: It has been proposed that cognitive gender differences arise, because males have a stronger hemispheric specialization than females. The more "asymmetric" organization in males is said to facilitate spatial abilities, while the "more symmetric" organization in females is said to facilitate verbal abilities. Depression and schizophrenia are often characterized by reduced or inverted in hemispheric specialization. Similarly, it is hypothesized that when one hemisphere is lesioned via stroke, the "healthy" hemisphere needs to be inhibited to facilitate rehabilitation. Techniques like TMS or tDCS allow to selectively inhibit or facilitate neural activity in specific brain areas.

In addition, I am working together with the at the Haukeland University Hospital on projects where we aim to map language and motor areas in patients with brain tumours. These maps can be used to improve planning brain surgery and help preventing that these areas are damaged.   

Last but not least, I am the leader of the "FLaSH" group (). Formerly funded by , our primary goal is to investigate how brain stimulation methods can be used (1) to better treat mental and neurological disorders, (2) to improve the diagnostic of neurological disorders (e.g., with presurgical mapping as described above), and (3) in research to learn more about the brain. The FLaSH group is a node within the .   

Video/news about brain stimulation:

Media coverage of cognitive gender differences/similarities:

• Har kvinner egentlig bedre ordforråd enn menn? ()
• "Women ARE better at crosswords"
• "Kleiner Unterschied, große Ähnlichkeit" ()
• No gender differences in multitasking (, , )

Videos and news about our "voice hearing" online study:

•  (click on "10. forsker på innbilte stemmer")

Media coverage of our  project:

• : Ny forskning kan hjelpe schizofrene

nterviews on (left-)handedness and telling 'left' from 'right':

Media coverage of how we associate colors with certain emotions:

At the University of Bergen, I am responsible for the Bachelor modules "PSYK207: Læring og atferdspsykologi" [learning and behavior] and "PSYK250: Bacheloroppgåve i generell psykologi" [Bachelor thesis in general psycholoy]. The latter together with Dominic Sagoe. Among others, my teaching duties comprise lectures, seminars, marking, and supervision of Bachelor and Master theses as well as "Emne- and Hovedoppgaver".
During my stays at the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany, 2006-2007) and Durham University (UK, 2007-2011) I have supervised a number of Bachelor and Master students and led courses and seminars.

Academic article

Conference poster

Academic literature review

Editorial/Leader article

Study protocol

Journal review

Letter to the editor

Journal papers: academic

• Tronrud, T., Kusztrits, I., Laloyaux, J., & Hirnstein, M. (2025). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Does Not Increase Auditory False Perceptions in Healthy Participants. European Journal of Neuroscience, 62(12), e70361. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70361
• Guérin, M., Saulnier, F., Cartier, L., Hirnstein, M., Hétu, S., & Juster, R.-P. (2025, 2025/12/30). Explicit gender stereotypes and sexually polymorphic cognition by gender identity. Biology of Sex Differences. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-025-00813-5 
  Ronold, E. H., Jensen, D., Thorsen, A. L. L., Raudeberg, R., Oltedal, L., Hammar, Å., Hirnstein, M., Douglas, K., Porter, R., & Kiebs, M. (2025). Cognitive deficits in treatment-resistant depression: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 15(7), e094247.  
• Tronrud, T., Hirnstein, M., Eichele, T., Kolstad, E., & Marquardt, L. (2025, Jun). Transcranial direct current stimulation treatment reduces, while repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment increases electroencephalography spike rates with refractory occipital lobe epilepsy: A case study. Epilepsia Open, 10(3), 749-757.
• Antal, A., Ganho-Ávila, A., Assecondi, S., Barbour, T., Bjekić, J., Blumberger, D. M., Bolognini, N., Brunelin, J., Chanes, L., Dale, M., Dubbioso, R., D'Urso, G., Filipcic, I., Filipović, S. R., Hirnstein, M., Konings, F., Langguth, B., Leocani, L., Memarian Sorkhabi, M., … Baeken, C. (2024). The consequences of the new European reclassification of non-invasive brain stimulation devices and the medical device regulations pose an existential threat to research and treatment: an invited opinion paper. Clinical Neurophysiology, 163, 280-291.  (Nivå 2)
• Næss, J. Ø., Hirnstein, M., Kusztrits, I., & Larøi, F. (2024). An online survey on clinical and healthy individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations: Abuse did not lead to more negative voice content. Schizophrenia Research, 265, 39-45.  (Nivå 2)
• Jonauskaite, D., Epicoco, D., Al-rasheed, A. S., Aruta, J. J. B. R., Bogushevskaya, V., Brederoo, S. G., Corona, V., Fomins, S., Gizdic, A., Griber, Y. A., Havelka, J., Hirnstein, M., John, G., Jopp, D. S., Karlsson, B., Konstantinou, N., Laurent, É., Marquardt, L., Mefoh, P. C. … Mohr, C. (2023). A comparative analysis of colour–emotion associations in 16–88-year-old adults from 31 countries. British Journal of Psychology, 115,&�Բ�����;275–305.&�Բ�����;
• Karlsson, E. M., Hugdahl, K., Hirnstein, M., & Carey, D. P. (2023). Analysis of distributions reveals real differences on dichotic listening scores between left- and right-handers. Cerebral Cortex Communications, 4(2).
• Vingerhoets, G., Verhelst, H., Gerrits, R., Badcock, N., Bishop, D. V. M., Carey, D., Flindall, J., Grimshaw, G., Harris, L. J., Hausmann, M., Hirnstein, M., Jäncke, L., Joliot, M., Specht, K., & Westerhausen, R. (2023). Laterality indices consensus initiative (LICI): A Delphi expert survey report on recommendations to record, assess, and report asymmetry in human behavioural and brain research. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 28(2-3), 122-191.
• Baeken, C., Arns, M., Brunelin, J., Chanes, L., Filipcic, I., Ganho-Ávila, A., Hirnstein, M., Rachid, F., Sack, A. T., O'Shea, J., D'Urso, G., & Antal, A. (2023, 2023/03/01/). European reclassification of non-invasive brain stimulation as class III medical devices: A call to action. Brain Stimulation, 16(2), 564-566.
• Marquardt, L., Craven, A. R., Hugdahl, K., Johnsen, E., Kroken, R. A., Kusztrits, I., Specht, K., Thomassen, A. S., Weber, S., & Hirnstein, M. (2022). Pilot-RCT Finds No Evidence for Modulation of Neuronal Networks of Auditory Hallucinations by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. Brain Sciences, 12(10), 1382.
• Hirnstein, M., Stuebs, J., Moè, A., & Hausmann, M. (2023). Sex/Gender Differences in Verbal Fluency and Verbal-Episodic Memory: A Meta-Analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(1), 67-90.  (Nivå 2)
• Kusztrits, I., Toh, W. L., Thomas, N., Larøi, F., Meyers, D., Hirnstein, M., & Rossell, S. (2022). From core schemas about the self and others to voice phenomenology: Anxiety and depression affect voice hearers differently. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 95, 493-507.
• Laloyaux, J., Hirnstein, M., Specht, K., Giersch, A., & Larøi, F. (2022, 2022/07/04). Eliciting false auditory perceptions using speech frequencies and semantic priming: a signal detection approach. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 27(4), 255-272.
• Kusztrits, I., Marquardt, L., Hugdahl, K., & Hirnstein, M. (2021). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) enhances internal source monitoring abilities in healthy participants. PLoS ONE, 16(9), e0257010.
• Hirnstein, M., & Hausmann, M. (2021). Sex/gender differences in the brain are not trivial—A commentary on Eliot et al. (2021). Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 130, 408-409.  (Nivå 2)
• Wehling, E., Bless, J. J., Hirnstein, M., Kråkvik, B., Vedul-Kjelsås, E., Hugdahl, K., Kalhovde, A. M., & Larøi, F. (2021). Olfactory hallucinations in a population-based sample. Psychiatry Research, 304, 114117.
• Kusztrits, I., Larøi, F., Laloyaux, J., Marquardt, L., Sinkeviciute, I., Kjelby, E., . . . Hirnstein, M. (2021). Mapping psychotic-like experiences: Results from an online survey. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 62, 237-248. 
• Jonauskaite, D., Abu-Akel, A., Dael, N., Oberfeld, D., Abdel-Khalek, A. M., Al-Rasheed, A. S., . . . Mohr, C. (2020). Universal Patterns in Color-Emotion Associations Are Further Shaped by Linguistic and Geographic Proximity. Psychological Science, 31(10), 1245-1260. 0956797620948810.  (Nivå 2)
• Marquardt, L., Kusztrits, I., Craven, A. R., Hugdahl, K., Specht, K., & Hirnstein, M. (2020). A multimodal study of the effects of tDCS on dorsolateral prefrontal and temporo-parietal areas during dichotic listening. European Journal of Neuroscience, 53(2), 449-459. 
• Laloyaux, J., Collazzoni, A., Hirnstein, M., Kusztrits, I., & Larøi, F. (2020). Personal resilience factors protect against distressing auditory hallucinations: A study comparing psychotic patients with auditory hallucinations, non-patients with auditory hallucinations, and healthy controls. Psychiatry Research, 290, 113058. doi:
• Moè, A., Hausmann, M., & Hirnstein, M. (2020). Gender stereotypes and incremental beliefs in STEM and non-STEM students in three countries: relationships with performance in cognitive tasks. Psychological Research.
• Bless, J. J., Hjelmervik, H., Torsheim, T., Gudmundsen, M., Larøi, F., Holma, I., Arola, A., Korkeila, J., Hirnstein, M., Marquardt, L., Kusztrits, I., Smelror, R. E., Agartz, I., & Hugdahl, K. (2020). Temporal signatures of auditory verbal hallucinations: An app-based experience sampling study. Schizophrenia Research, 215, 442–444. doi: . (Nivå 2)
• Marquardt, L., Eichele, T., Bindoff, L. A., Olberg, H. K., Veiby, G., Eichele, H., . . . Hirnstein, M. (2019). . Epilepsy & Behavior Reports, 100339. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebr.2019.100339
• Jonauskaite, D., Abdel-Khalek, A. M., Abu-Akel, A., Al-Rasheed, A. S., Antonietti, J.-P., Ásgeirsson, Á. G., . . . Mohr, C. (2019). The sun is no fun without rain: Physical environments affect how we feel about yellow across 55 countries. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 66, 101350. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101350 (Nivå 2)
• Larøi, F., Bless, J. J., Laloyaux, J., Kråkvik, B., Vedul-Kjelsås, E., Kalhovde, A. M., Hirnstein, M., & Hugdahl, K. (2019). An epidemiological study on the prevalence of hallucinations in a general-population sample: Effects of age and sensory modality. Psychiatry Research, 272, 707-714. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2019.01.003
• Dwyer, G. E., Craven, A. R., Hirnstein, M., Kompus, K., Assmus, J., Ersland, L., . . . Grüner, R. (2019). . Frontiers in Neurology, 9(1145). doi: 10.3389/fneur.2018.01145
• Hirnstein, M., Hugdahl, K., & Hausmann, M. (2019). . Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 24(2), 204-252. doi: 10.1080/1357650X.2018.1497044.
• Hausmann, M., Brysbaert, M., Van der Haegen, L., Lewald, J., Specht, K., Hirnstein, M., Willemin, J., Barton, J., Buchilly, D., Chmetz, F., Roch, M., Brederoo, S., Dael, N., & Mohr, C. (2019). . Cortex, 111, 134-147. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.10.020. (Nivå 2)
• Hirnstein, M., Larøi, F., & Laloyaux, J. (2018). . Psychological Research, 83(2), 286-296. doi: 10.1007/s00426-018-1045-0
• Hjelmervik, H., Hausmann, M., Hirnstein, M., Craven, A. R., Hugdahl, K., & Specht, K. (2018). Sex- and sex hormone-related variations in energy-metabolic frontal brain asymmetries: A magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Neuroimage, 172, 817-825. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.043 (Nivå 2)
• Ocklenburg, S., Güntürkün, O., Hugdahl, K. & Hirnstein, M. (2015). Laterality and mental disorders in the postgenomic age – A closer look at schizophrenia and language lateralization. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 59, 100-110. (Nivå 2)
• Hjelmervik, H., Westerhausen, R. Hirnstein, M., Specht, K., & Hausmann, M. (2015). . Neuroimage, 113, 196-206. (Nivå 2)
• Ocklenburg, S., Hirnstein, M., Beste, C., & Güntürkün, O. (2014). . Frontiers in Psychology, 5, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01143.
• Hirnstein, M., & Hugdahl, K. (2014). . British Journal of Psychiatry, 205(4), 260-267. (Nivå 2)  
• Hirnstein, M., Coloma Andrews L., & Hausmann, M. (2014). . Archives of Sexual Behavior, 43, 1663-1673.
• Hirnstein, M., Hugdahl, K., & Hausmann, M. (2014). . Frontiers in Psychology, 4. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00997.
• Hirnstein, M., Westerhausen, R., Korsnes, M. S., & Hugdahl, K. (2013) Sex differences in language asymmetry are age-dependent and small: A large-scale, consonant vowel dichotic listening study with behavioral and fMRI data. Cortex, 49(7), 1910-1921. (Nivå 2)
• Ocklenburg, S., Westerhausen, R., Hirnstein, M., & Hugdahl, K. (2013). Auditory hallucinations and reduced language lateralization in schizophrenia: A meta-analysis of dichotic listening studies. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 19(4), 410-418.
• Hirnstein, M., Westerhausen, R., & Hugdahl, K. (2013). . PLOS ONE, 8(2): e57316. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057316.
• Alba-Ferrara, L., De Erausquin, G. A., Hirnstein, M., Weis, S., & Hausmann, M. (2013). . Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 59. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00059.
• Hirnstein, M., Freund, N., & Hausmann, M. (2012). Gender stereotyping enhances verbal fluency performance in men (and women). Zeitschrift für Psychologie/Journal of Psychology, 220, 70-77.
• Hirnstein, M. (2011). Dichotic listening and left right confusion. Brain and Cognition, 76, 239-244. 
• Ocklenburg, S., Hirnstein, M., Ohmann, H., & Hausmann, M. (2011). Mental rotation does not account for sex differences in left-right confusion. Brain and Cognition, 76, 166-171.
• Hirnstein, M., Bayer, U., Ellison, A. & Hausmann, M. 2011. TMS over the left angular gyrus impairs the ability to discriminate left from right. Neuropsychologia, 49, 29-33. (Nivå 2)
• Ocklenburg, S., Hirnstein, M., Hausmann, M. & Lewald, J. 2010. Auditory space perception in left- and right-handers. Brain and Cognition, 72, 210-217.
• Hirnstein, M., Leask, S., Rose, J. & Hausmann, M. 2010. Disentangling the relationship between hemispheric asymmetry and cognitive performance. Brain and Cognition, 73, 119-127.
• Hirnstein, M., Ocklenburg, S., Schneider, D. & Hausmann, M. 2009. Sex differences in left-right confusion depend on hemispheric asymmetry. Cortex, 45, 891-899. (Nivå 2)
• Hirnstein, M., Bayer, U. & Hausmann, M. 2009. Sex-specific response strategies in mental rotation. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 225-228.
• Hirnstein, M., Hausmann, M. & Güntürkün, O. 2008. The evolutionary origins of functional cerebral asymmetries in humans: Does lateralization enhance parallel processing? Behavioural Brain Research, 187, 297-303.
• Hirnstein, M., Hausmann, M. & Lewald, J. 2007. Functional cerebral asymmetry in auditory motion perception. Laterality, 12, 87-99.

Non peer-reviewed publications

• Hirnstein, M., & Oltedal, L. (2025). Transkraniell magnetisk stimulering – kommet for å bli [Invited comment]. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening, 145(1). https://doi.org/10.4045/tidsskr.24.0644
• Laloyaux, J., Larøi, F., & Hirnstein, M. (2018). Research: Women and Men Are Equally Bad at Multitasking. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from .
• Hirnstein, M. (2018). [Book review] . Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 23(3), 377-379. doi: 10.1080/1357650X.2017.1368532
• Hirnstein, M., Johnsen, E., Marquardt, L., Hugdahl, K., Güntürkün, O., & Ocklenburg, S. (2016). Lateralisering og schizofreni I den postgenomiske æra – en symptombasert tilnærming. BestPractice Psykiatri/Nevrologi, 28, 22-26.

Book sections:

• Hirnstein, M. (2018). Stress og kjønn. In T. R. Rogg Korsvik & L. M. Rustad (Eds.), Hva er kjønnsperspektiver i forskning? Eksempler fra tverrfaglige forskningsområder – Håndboka fra Kilden/Norges forskningsråd. (pp. 10-11). Lysaker: Kilden kjønnsforskning.
• Hugdahl, K. & Hirnstein, M. (2013). Cerebral hemispheres: Behavior and imaging studies. In S. P. Koffler, J. E. Morgan, I. S. Baron, & M. F. Greiffenstein (Eds.), Neuropsychology: science and practice (pp. 95-113). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Hirnstein, M. & Hausmann, M. 2010. Kognitive Geschlechtsunterschiede. In Handbuch Psychologie und Geschlechterforschung. Steins, G. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag fuer Sozialwissenschaften. 69-85.

Brain stimulation and Mental/Neurological Disorders
In 2016, we started the [StopVoices] project on whether auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia can be reduced transcranial direct current stimulation. The project was funded by the and the . First results of the projects were published . 
We continue our work to explore how non-invasive and weak electrical brain stimulation can help individuals with mental and neurological disorders. For example, we investigate in cooperation with the "" how transcranial brain stimulation (TMS) can be used in the treatment of people with depression.

Brain stimulation and presurgical planning
Together with and the at the Haukeland University Hospital, we implemented mapping of cortical language and movement areas with TMS. That means that we localise these areas in the brain and provide those maps to the doctors, who are going to conduct surgery in patients with brain tumours. By having this information before the surgery, the doctors can plan it better and potentially avoid damage to these areas. We still cooperate with the department of clinical neurophysiology, aiming to further improve the presurgical mapping.

Gender and cognition
We have various projects about sex/gender differences and similarities in cognitive abilities and which biological, social, and psychological factors give rise to these differences. For example, we ran a large that found that women are better at remembering words than women. Other work found better mental rotation abilities - on average - in men than women.

Colours and emotions
Together with Lynn Marquardt (now emplyed at Helse Bergen, formerly ���ϳԹ���Դ) and collaborators worldwide under the leadership of colleagues from the University of Lausanne, we investigate differences and similarities across countries and people in how they associate colours with emotions. 
Please for completing our online test on colours and emotions to help us.