Music is present in many aspects of our daily lives. Why do people enjoy listen to certain kinds of melodies? What are the benefits and brain changes associated with music training, e.g., learning to play a musical instrument? How can music be used as an intervention technique for hearing-related cognitive difficulties in aging and certain psychological disorders? The Music and Auditory Cognition Laboratory aims to achieve a better understanding of how human perceive and understand music and the cognitive and underlying neural changes associated with music training. Notably, we also focus on a number of interesting characteristics associated with music experience including absolute pitch and congenital amusia. Our research methods combine psychophysical, cognitive tasks, and functional brain imaging techniques (fMRI) with current research directions including: absolute pitch, melodic contour processing, pitch perception across music and speech, sensory-motor integration, hearing in noise perception, musician training effects and related applications of music intervention. 

Absolute pitch (AP) is a relatively rare ability to identify musical notes without a referent tone (Deutsch, 2013). Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of AP. This line of research focuses on the behavioral, genomic, and neural mechanisms associated with absolute pitch processing. 

The ability to segregate out target sounds from among noisy background is essential to communication and everyday functioning. This line of research focuses on the various factors that contribute to hearing-in-noise ability as well as the cortical plasticity the supports hearing-in-noise performance.

Musical activities, such as playing a musical instrument involves the coordination of activities from multiple senses (listening, score reading, motor skills). This line of research focuses on understanding the relationship between musical expertise and sensory-motor integration as well as the underlying neural mechanism. 

This line of research aims to understand whether musical training related benefits can transfer to non-musical domains, such as in speech. In relation to this, we are also interested in the potential applications of the use of music-related training activities to enhance certain cognitive functions, e.g., language rehabilitation.