neuroscience

[PsychToday] Learning about Allison’s Brain

March 24, 2016
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I heard a pretty remarkable story last week about a woman named Allison. Allison is a retired music teacher—a highly decorated retired music teacher, too. In 2011, Allison was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, an enlargement of one of the arteries in her brain. An enlargement so big it was the size of a plum. […]

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Musings on Music and Science

April 16, 2014
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I love quick-and-dirty resources that provide valuable information in an accessible format. In that spirit, I want to share this great resource recently published by the music therapy team at Neurorhythm Music Therapy. Their interactive map of the brain provides brief overviews of music’s effect on different parts of the brain with a click of […]

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[Guest Post] Emerging Research: Music Therapy and Disorders of Consciousness

February 17, 2014
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I first met Julian O’Kelly at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference in Toronto last August. Julian is a man of many talents—music therapist, clinician, researcher, PhD student, speaker, and professional pianist. It was through circustance that we ended up co-presenting with our respective PhD mentors at the SMPC conference, but it turned […]

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SMPC 2013 Wrap-up and Reflections

August 13, 2013
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I have recently returned from the 2013 meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), which was held at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. On the first leg of my return trip, I was asked by the gentleman sitting next to me to share the “one big thing” I learned at this conference. […]

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[PsychToday] Music, Adaptation, and Evolution

June 14, 2013
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One of the advantages of working on a PhD is that you get to do a lot of reading and re-reading. I find the re-reading more interesting than the initial reading as I read the article or book in a different way, with a different level of depth and understanding. This happened recently when re-reading […]

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[PsychToday] “Thank You Mister Speaker”: On Music and Social Behaviors

May 9, 2013
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Think music doesn’t matter in our lives? You would be hard-pressed to watch this 2 minute clip and not see how music can change the entire mood of a rather serious group of people…Read more

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[PsychToday] Can You Divorce Music from Communication?

March 7, 2013
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I heard a claim this week that has thrown me for a loop: Music therapists should not be allowed to work by themselves with individuals with communication disorders. Given that I am a board certified music therapist (and have been for 10 years), my reaction to this claim is likely stronger than most. Nonetheless, I […]

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[PsychToday] Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Music of Politics

November 8, 2012
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Even watching from my living room in Warrensburg MO, I could feel the electricity and the energy in the room. Flashing lights, yelling crowds, waving hands, American flags flying, smiles and cheers all around. President Obama and his family walking out on the blue-floored stage. He had just won the 2012 Presidential election and was […]

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Book Review: Why We Like Music

December 7, 2011
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I am super-excited to share with you a book recently introduced to me: Why We Like Music: Ear, Emotion, Evolution. The book was originally published in Italy about 5 years. It has been translated into English by Stephen Thomson Moore and released just two months ago by New World Media. Here’s the short version of […]

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