From Our Lab

What is the relationship between music theory (the abstract principles underlying a given repertoire of music and the sounds of which it consists) and music cognition? In our previous studies we examined whether Western listeners are sensitive to the scale structure and to tonal hierarchies? To the Circle of fifths? To global musical structure such as the Sonata form?

Can music assist verbal memory?

Chants, ballads, nursery rhymes jingles, all suggest music supports verbal memory. But does it? Under which conditions? What are the mechanisms that underlies this positive effect? We are studying these questions in a special context where music is played at the background of audio-text (spoken words).

Musical surprises

We ask what sort of musical organization at the pitch and temporal levels surprise listeners and evoke an emotional rewarding effect? As well as What are the brain signals that reflect these surprises?

Music, motion and cross modal associations

We are studying the connection between music, motion and visual percepts.

Music perception and cognition of Arab music

Traditional Arab music is very different from Western music: It is melodic (no chords or harmony), monophonic (single main voice), ornamental, and is based on a rich set of scales (maqamat) and complex rhythmic patterns. We are interested in understanding how these differences affect music perception in listeners who grew up on this music versus those who did not.
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