PNAS Science Sessions

The neuroscience of music perception

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Petri Toiviainen, Ibi Burunat, and Daniel Levitin describe the neuroscience of how musicians and non-musicians perceive boundaries within pieces of music.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:04] Music neuroscientist Petri Toiviainen, music neuroscientist Ibi Burunat, and cognitive neuroscientist Daniel Levitin introduce the concept of musical boundaries.
•[02:29] Toiviainen and Burunat tell about the musical pieces used in the experiment, as well as the experimental setup.
•[04:05] Levitin explains why musicians and non-musicians were included in the study.
•[04:27] Burunat and Levitin talk about the findings generally.
•[05:50] Toiviainen and Levitin explain how musicians and non-musicians’ responses to the music differed.
•[07:13] Toiviainen and Burunat talk about the caveats and limitations of the study.
•[08:59] Levitin and Burunat explore the implications of the work for music neuroscience.
•[09:46] Conclusion.

About Our Guests:

Petri Toiviainen
Professor
University of Jyväskylä

Ibi Burunat
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Jyväskylä

Daniel Levitin
Professor emeritus
McGill University

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2319459121

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