Conference report: “Music, mind, and brain” theme program at the Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science.

Abstract

The Association for Psychological Science 24th Annual Convention met in Chicago, Illinois, May 24 -27, 2012. One of the theme programs was Music, Mind, and Brain, with presentations by eminent scientists in the field: Aniruddh Patel from the Neurosciences Institute, Carol Krumhansl from Cornell University, and Daniel J. Levitin from McGill University, who organized the session, as well as Victor Wooten, Grammy-award-winning bassist. As well as reviewing specialized content in the areas of musical rhythm, memory, talent, and training, the talks drew on similar points such as how music moves human beings (both physically and emotionally), how humans can learn music, and how music impacts other species. The program ended with a related poster session, and an evening concert featured two of the presenters.Keywords: APS, conference, music, mind, brainThe 24th annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), which took place in Chicago, Illinois, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers May 24 -27, 2012, included a program titled Music, Mind, and Brain. Three leading cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists specializing in music as well as an internationally renowned musician discussed how structured, organized sound has the power to move us, literally and figuratively.Aniruddh Patel from the Neurosciences Institute (La Jolla, CA) began the program. Carol Krumhansl (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY) gave the second presentation, and was followed by Daniel J. Levitin (McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada), who had organized the session. The session ended with a talk by Victor Wooten, five-time Grammy award winner and bassist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.The PresentationsAniruddh Patel, the Neurosciences Institute: Beat Perception and SynchronizationPatel began his talk Musical Beat Processing in Humans and Other Species by stating that moving to the beat occurs in every human culture. Patel investigated human's underlying mechanisms for singing and moving to the beat (e.g., clapping, tapping, etc.). Some researchers believe animals should be able to move to the beat because they can learn basic sensorimotor tasks. Patel argued the opposing position, that beat-based processing is rare in other animals because this processing is (a) cognitively complex, (b) engages a distinct brain network, and (c) may have evolved for social bonding. Therefore, beat perception and synchronization (BPS) are not possible for most species, including other primates, and these mental capacities associated with BPS rarely co-occur in animals.He elaborated on these mental capacities by discussing the cognitive complexity behind BPS. Beat perception is inherently sensorimotor, a type of temporal processing that depends on a subjective sense of periodicity, and is hierarchical (Palmer & Krumhansl, 1990; Toiviainen, Luck, & Thompson, 2010) and predictive because people actively anticipate the beat (Large & Jones, 1999). Although rhythm is amodal, BPS is primarily biased toward the auditory modality (Patel, Iversen, Chen, & Repp, 2005), even with a metronome (Repp, 2005), and shows limited plasticity. Patel discussed how past work implicates a distributed neural system in time interval perception in that there is no single timing center. Key regions for beat-based perception include (yet are not limited to) premotor cortex, basal ganglia, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, all of which interact with the auditory cortex.Beat-based processing is not simply bottom-up processing, but also has a top-down component as well. John Iversen from the Neurosciences Institute exploited top-down processing in a purely perceptual paradigm requiring no motor response, looking at how listeners' different inner metrical interpretations to the same rhythm (simply shifting which beat is the downbeat of a repeating rhythmic pattern) modulate the auditory responses and brain responses (Iversen, Repp, & Patel, 2009). …