MAIN INTERESTS
Music is present in many aspects of our daily lives. Musician experience is associated with a myriad of differences; some are innate (i.e., absolute pitch) whereas others can be acquired through music training. For instance, playing a musical instrument requires the coordination across sensory modalities, auditory, visual, and tactile. 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.
絕對音感 (Absolute pitch)
噪音環境中聽辨表現(Hearing in noise perception)
音樂家的多感官線索整合(Multisensory integration in musicianship)
音樂訓練與認知功能 (Musician training effects and cognitive ability)
聽覺的短期與長期記憶 (Auditory working and long-term memory)
Absolute pitch processing
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.
Hearing-in-noise perception
The ability to segregate out target sounds from among noisy background is essential to communication and everyday functioning. Hearing-in-noise problems are often observed in aging and hearing-impaired populations. This line of research focuses on the various factors that affect hearing-in-noise ability as well as the cortical plasticity the supports hearing-in- noise performance.
Multisensory integration
Musical activities, such as playing a musical instrument involves the coordination of activities from multiple senses (e.g., auditory, visual, tactile). This line of research focuses on understanding the relationship between musical expertise and sensory-motor integration as well as the underlying neural mechanism.
Musical training effects
This line of research aims to understand whether musical training related benefits at the behavioral and neural levels. 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.
Auditory working memory and long-term memory
Working memory for auditory information is essential for everyday functioning. This line of research focuses on the different types of auditory working memory and its organization and relationship with auditory long-term memory.