From Perception to Pleasure: The Neuroscience of Music and why we Love it
ONLINE
Robert J. Zatorre, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CA
In this lecture I will present findings from cognitive neuroscience that bear on the question of how we get from perception of sound patterns to pleasurable responses. I will first discuss evidence that corticocortical loops from and to the auditory cortex are responsible not only for perceptual processes but also for working memory, sensory-motor, and predictive functions that are essential to produce and perceive music. Then, I will discuss neuroimaging and brain modulation studies from our lab focusing on the dopaminergic reward system, its involvement in musical pleasure, and what happens when that system is disrupted. I propose that pleasure in music arises from interactions between cortical loops that enable expectancies to emerge from perceived sound patterns, and subcortical systems responsible for reward and valuation. This model integrates knowledge derived from basic neuroscience of reward mechanisms with independently derived concepts, such as tension and anticipation, from music theory.
Prof. Robert Zatorre, Ph.D. was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied music and psychology at Boston University, and obtained his PhD at Brown University, followed by postdoctoral work with Brenda Milner at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, where he currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience. His laboratory studies the neural substrates of two characteristically human abilities: speech and music. Together with his many students and collaborators he has published over 300 scientific papers on topics including pitch perception, auditory imagery, music production, and brain plasticity. He is perhaps best known for discovering how the brain’s reward system results in musical pleasure.
25th November 2021 | 18:00–19:00 | Participation free of charge | No registration required
Further information: https://w-k.sbg.ac.at/veranstaltung/from-perception-to-pleasure-the-neuroscience-of-music-and-why-we-love-it-robert-j-zatorre-mcgill-university-quebec-ca/
