Neuroscience
Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist at McGill University and professional musician, has been in the (science) news a lot lately. He just published This is your brain on music : the science of a human obsession, the New York Times wrote about him a few weeks ago (cogsci blogged; abridged article at the Toronto Star), a colleague just commented about his book on this blog ...
... and I've just heard him on two different podcasts.
WNYC's Soundcheck interviewed him on Dec. 27, 2006 in a show called Music on the Brain, and the News Hour reported on him on Feb. 5, 2007 in Music Illuminates Brain Function. Since we're talking about musical cognition, it's nice to hear these shows, as you can better understand what Levitin is talking about.
Both podcasts and the New York Times article talk about Levitin's ongoing research into our emotional responses to music. Quoting from the Times: "In April (2006) he took participants in a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert -- the conductor Keith Lockhart, five of the musicians and 15 audience members -- and wired them with sensors to measure their state of arousal, including heart rate, body movements and muscle tension." Levitin argues that we have a "music instinct", that "... music is an evolutionary adaptation: something that men developed as a way to demonstrate reproductive fitness. ... 'Music has got to be useful for survival, or we would have gotten rid of it years ago,' he said" (in the Times). Steven Pinker disagrees.
Either way, this is interesting research. Hear about it or read about it, but if you like music and / or the brain, pay attention.
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Well not really, but it's not too much of a stretch to combine two recent pop neuro threads on the evils of dopamine into one dopameme. In the first, heretofore reputable neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin of McGill University is quoted in the Daily...
- Music Of The Hemispheres
risser_pic_31dec06_neuropsychology_tuscany Originally uploaded by rissera. Interesting piece in today's New York Times about music and the brain and work by Daniel Levitin [link]. Curious neuro readers are directed to some classical papers...
- Oliver Sacks Now
["... Now" is a short post of cog sci topics in the news] Oliver Sacks is plugging his new book, Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain (New York : Knopf, 2007), and you can follow along: * He had an article in the Sept. 24 issue of The New Yorker...
- Near To My Heart ... But Not Technically Cog Sci Or Librarian
... is Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Best Music Websites. The CogSci Librarian likes music quite a bit, and this list includes some old favorites and possibly some new ones. To wit: iTunes Music Store quoting EW "well, duh." EMusic $9.99 a...
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Great quote in the September 2005 Technology Review (from MIT) about radio vs iPod. Spencer Reiss interviewed music venture capitalist Fred Wilson about his thoughts on the future of music (Music Dial Tone). He explains why he mostly listens to podcasts:...
Neuroscience
More from Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist at McGill University and professional musician, has been in the (science) news a lot lately. He just published This is your brain on music : the science of a human obsession, the New York Times wrote about him a few weeks ago (cogsci blogged; abridged article at the Toronto Star), a colleague just commented about his book on this blog ...
... and I've just heard him on two different podcasts.
WNYC's Soundcheck interviewed him on Dec. 27, 2006 in a show called Music on the Brain, and the News Hour reported on him on Feb. 5, 2007 in Music Illuminates Brain Function. Since we're talking about musical cognition, it's nice to hear these shows, as you can better understand what Levitin is talking about.
Both podcasts and the New York Times article talk about Levitin's ongoing research into our emotional responses to music. Quoting from the Times: "In April (2006) he took participants in a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert -- the conductor Keith Lockhart, five of the musicians and 15 audience members -- and wired them with sensors to measure their state of arousal, including heart rate, body movements and muscle tension." Levitin argues that we have a "music instinct", that "... music is an evolutionary adaptation: something that men developed as a way to demonstrate reproductive fitness. ... 'Music has got to be useful for survival, or we would have gotten rid of it years ago,' he said" (in the Times). Steven Pinker disagrees.
Either way, this is interesting research. Hear about it or read about it, but if you like music and / or the brain, pay attention.
- Justin Bieber Causes Psychosis, Says A Leading Neuroscientist
Well not really, but it's not too much of a stretch to combine two recent pop neuro threads on the evils of dopamine into one dopameme. In the first, heretofore reputable neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin of McGill University is quoted in the Daily...
- Music Of The Hemispheres
risser_pic_31dec06_neuropsychology_tuscany Originally uploaded by rissera. Interesting piece in today's New York Times about music and the brain and work by Daniel Levitin [link]. Curious neuro readers are directed to some classical papers...
- Oliver Sacks Now
["... Now" is a short post of cog sci topics in the news] Oliver Sacks is plugging his new book, Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain (New York : Knopf, 2007), and you can follow along: * He had an article in the Sept. 24 issue of The New Yorker...
- Near To My Heart ... But Not Technically Cog Sci Or Librarian
... is Entertainment Weekly's list of the 25 Best Music Websites. The CogSci Librarian likes music quite a bit, and this list includes some old favorites and possibly some new ones. To wit: iTunes Music Store quoting EW "well, duh." EMusic $9.99 a...
- Why Radio?
Great quote in the September 2005 Technology Review (from MIT) about radio vs iPod. Spencer Reiss interviewed music venture capitalist Fred Wilson about his thoughts on the future of music (Music Dial Tone). He explains why he mostly listens to podcasts:...