Cognitive science of music

This year, Dr. Virginia Penhune and Dr. Robert Zatorre, as part of their work at IMéRA, offer a course on the cognitive neuroscience of music. This course is open to PhD students and second year master students.

The course will take place in the conference room (first floor) of the Maison Neuve at IMéRA (2 place Leverrier, 13004 Marseille).

The course will focus on the neural basis for musical perception and production, on brain plasticity associated with musical training and expertise, and on neural mechanisms behind musical pleasure.

In the first lecture, the professors will give a broad overview of the domain and some of the main methodological approaches. In the following meetings, students will be asked to present on specific topics of interest, focusing their presentations around 1-2 key papers that they will select, with input from the professors. All students in the class will be expected to read these papers and contribute to the discussion during each class. Discussions are designed to be a critical analysis of the method