Functional Anatomy of Language and Music Perception
The Auditory and Language Perception and Neuroimaging Laboratory conducts basic research in the areas of hearing, speech, and music using a combination of psychophysical, computational modeling, and functional brain imaging (fMRI) methods. Our goal is to understand the cortical and behavioral mechanisms that underlie the coding of complex sounds at both peripheral (low-level) and central (high-level) regions of the brain. Current projects include the study of cognitive models of musical memory, brain mechanisms involved in coding basic acoustic features (or building blocks) of speech and music, and computational/mathematical models of spatial and virtual-reality 3D hearing. We are also developing a computational model that mimics the natural neural processing of music, including rhythm processing and the processing of the emotional content of music.
