Music is fundamentally a social phenomenon, in that we listen to, synchronize to, and make music together. In many contemporary styles of music, much of the musical material is improvised on the spot, which requires the involved musicians to agree on predictive structures such as meter and tonality. In this key note lecture, I will introduce the theory of predictive processing of music as a framework for understanding the fundamental brain processes underlying musical interaction, improvisation and groove and show how this theory can be extended to account for the dynamics underlying collective music making.

Chair: Tudor Popescu

In this talk I discuss the relationship between music and movement, drawing on my work with motion capture and on theories of embodied cognition. Framing my talk is the question "Why do we move to music?" The world over, music is accompanied by movement. Human movement is obviously necessary to produce sounds, but listeners also engage in bodily activity in response to those sounds, whether in the form of dance or more subtle gestures, like tapping their feet. However, the question of why this would be the case––a question so simple as to seem naïve––largely remains unanswered. In this talk I will offer one possible explanation but also consider turning the inquiry on its head: perhaps it is not so much that we move to music, but that we participate in musical activities in order to structure our movements in a particular way.

Chair: Andrea Schiavio

This workshop shows an example of the workflow that a neuroscientist performs when addressing questions of auditory predictive coding. The workshop is divided into two parts. In the first part (20 min), we will show how we moved from a research question ("how the human brain processes local and global auditory uncertainty") to a MEG experimental design tailored to test hypotheses on that question. The second part (50 min) is practical. The audience will be guided through an interactive demo of MEG data analysis. No prior knowledge of M/EEG data analysis and Python is required.

Requirement: Since the workshop is done in a Google Collab notebook online, participants would need a Gmail account.

Chair: Andrea Schiavio

Starting in musicology, transitioning into psychology, and working in computer science, music, and psychology departments, I have had a few tasters of different research cultures, theoretical frameworks, methods and working practices. In this talk & discussion, I will briefly reflect on some of the variations between scientific and humanities approaches and understandings of music, and how these can beneficially support each other. The power of data, synthesis and collaboration are certainly benefits offered through scientific approaches, but this is not to dismiss the essential qualities and insights that humanities offer in terms of contextual, ethnographic and critical perspectives on music. The growing dialogue between the two is benefitting questions related to emotion, wellbeing and performance.

So-named as a nod to the coffeehouse culture of our Austrian base, the "Kaffeehaus" sessions invite semi-moderated, informal discussions among all participants.

The following "breakout rooms" will be created in Zoom:

• Room 1: Academic talkin'. A space to pick up where some of the earlier discussions will have (perhaps abruptly, given time restrictions) left off. We hope – though cannot guarantee – that some of the speakers will themselves join this room. (moderator: Andrea Schiavio)

• Room 2: Meta-academic talkin'. Here, we will engage with “the dreams and fears” of (among others) early-career researchers. Suggested topics for conversation may include work/life balance, dealing with impostor syndrome, prioritising time throughout an academic day/year/career, securing independence, etc. (moderator: Tudor Popescu)

• Room 3: Women in academia (starts at 10.00). Discuss and learn more about the difficulties women often face in academia. Topics include career breaks, maternity leave, support networks, equal payment, harassment, etc. (moderator: Nikki Moran)

• Room 4: Music. Discuss "simply" music itself: music theory, music analysis, music-making, your favourite artists, etc. (unmoderated)

People can choose which room they wish to join among the above, and are free also to switch rooms mid-session.

The biological evolution of "musicality" (the capacity to produce and enjoy music) is a topic of longstanding scientific interest. Yet research on the cultural evolution of music itself is only recently re-emerging after a long period of disrepute. I will review and clarify historical controversy over concepts of cultural evolution of music, as well as recent findings of general patterns in musical evolution. I will end by discussing exciting directions for future research including possible coevolution between music and musicality, and between music and other domains of culture (e.g., language, dance, religion, social structure).

Chair: Tudor Popescu

If cognition emerges not from a cognizing organism alone but from organism/environment interactions; and if these interactions shape the brain continuously in plastic and flexible ways; and if, at the same time, they result in organismal actions shaping the environment in likewise plastic ways; then cognition must be considered a local instance of the process evolutionists call niche construction. This suggests a more general rethinking, in which not only the organismal plasticity involved in cognition but all organismal plasticity radicalizes niche construction, extending the reach of its feedback cycles to the scale of momentary niche/organism interactions. This in turn has far-reaching implications for our conception of the most fundamental process in evolution, natural selection; foremost among them is the impossibility of discerning, in evolutionary process, “adaptations” and “selection for” defined “functions.” The significance of this rethinking for our conceptions of music evolution and cognition is large but difficult to build into our narratives and models. In A Million Years of Music (2015), I opposed adaptationism in accounts of music evolution because it tends to offer unilateral explanations for complex, multilateral behaviors. Here I carry further the critique, weighing the implications of extended evolutionary thought for the spectrum connecting music cognition to the evolution of musicking.

Chair: Felix Haiduk

This workshop will introduce participants to the history of iterated learning (also called transmission chains) experiments, their place in cognitive science at large, and their application to the study of music. We will explore several technical aspects of iterated learning experiments, related both to how they are currently used, and to how they could be used in the future. This workshop will include a discussion of the different possible designs that can be used, which type of hypotheses they can test, and how. The workshop will also include time for the audience to ask questions on their own experimental designs.

Chair: Felix Haiduk