Splash Biography

Have you ever gotten chills while listening to music? Have you ever wondered why and how music therapy is used as treatment for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's? In this exploratory beginner-friendly course, we will explore the frontiers of the intersection between music, neuroscience, psychology, and beyond as we delve into music from around the world and learn how the three-pound glob in our heads makes the music we hear into a full-body experience. We will explore topics such as the speech-to-sound illusion, frisson, the brain’s reward circuitry, auditory-motor interactions, and memory formation. In addition to covering the basics of neuroscience and psychology, this course will also be an opportunity to explore Princeton’s current research in Music Cognition while appealing to students from across the arts and natural sciences!