Specialist Research Laboratory
Music Neuroscience Laboratory
| Coordinator | Associate Professor Sarah Wilson |
| Location | Room 619, 6th Floor, Redmond Barry Building |
| Phone | +61 3 8344 4096 |
Our laboratory investigates the human auditory system in healthy and clinical populations using a range of behavioural, cognitive, computational, and neurobiological techniques.
We apply this knowledge to music practice, music perception and cognition, and music in society. Some examples include: • vocal production in expert and non-expert singers
• absolute pitch (AP) perception
• the perception of pitch and dissonance in music
• cognitive mechanisms involved in reading music notation
• the use of music to aid recovery after brain injury, and regulate mood and social behaviour
• the development of new music technologies, such as musical instruments and notational systems.
Our research has led to the development of an important new model of the auditory system, known as the Object-Attribute model. This work has supported computational modeling of sound recognition and its relationship to pitch, dissonance, and auditory streaming. It has also been extended to melodic and rhythmic processing.
Our investigation of the neurobiological basis of music cognition in the developing and adult brain has extended to other cognitive domains. These include:
• language
• learning and memory
• spatial and mathematical abilities
• visual processing. We have examined the reorganization of music functions due to training, in the presence of sensory impairment, or following brain injury.
We have also investigated auditory processing in a range of neurological conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), epilepsy, schizophrenia, and Williams Syndrome. Our computational models of sound recognition and pitch perception have formed the basis of algorithms for modeling difficulties with speech prosody and sleep apnea, as well as noise annoyance.
Current Methodological Techniques
• Behavioural experiments in an anechoic chamber
• Computational modeling of neural systems
• Structural and functional neuroimaging
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
• Case studies of amusia, aphasia, and musical savants
Research Staff:
Research Collaborators:
Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
• A/Prof Bob Reeve, A/Prof Michael Saling, Prof John Trinder, Dr Dean Lusher
School of Music, The Univeristy of Melbourne
• Prof Gary McPherson, Prof Cathy Falk, A/Prof Denise Grocke, NAMTRU
School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne
• A/Prof Andrew Ooi, Dr Colin Burvil
Florey Neuroscience Institutes (FNI)
• Prof Graeme Jackson, Prof Alan Connelly
National Collaborators:
International Collaborators:
• Prof Isabelle Peretz and Prof Robert Zatorre, International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal
• Prof Brian Butterworth, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, Queen Square
Research Assistant:
Laura Bird
Current Students:
Laura Bird (MPsych/PhD candidate) – The organisation of singing and language networks in epilepsy.
Ellen Gentle (DPsych candidate) - Neurobiological correlates of music function in singers, non-singers and patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.
Rashika Gomez (PhD candidate) – Williams Syndrome: Investigating hyper-responsiveness in the domains of music, anxiety and sociability.
Loretta Greco (MPsych) - Absolute pitch and calendrical calculation in Asperger syndrome: a case study.
David Marco (PhD candidate) - An investigation of the relationships between pitch perception and sound recognition.
Catherine Martin (DPsych candidate) - Absolute pitch: An investigation of the spectrum of ability.
Dawn Merrett (MPsych/PhD candidate) – Using music to understand the organization and rehabilitation of language.
Dougal Phillips (MPsych) - Pitch perception, affective prosody, and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.
Rebecca Sussex (MSc candidate) - Examining the locations of key neural nodes of the language and music lexicons.
Past Students:
Dr. Rowena Beecham (DPsych)
Dr. Rudi Crncec (DPsych)
Dr. David Hirst (Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne)
Dr. Marilee Martens (PhD)
Dr. Antonio Paolini (MPsych)
Dr. Andrian Pertout (Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne)
Chris Sommervelle (MMusPerf, Victorian College of the Arts)
Dr. Catherine Wan (PhD)
Selected Publications:
McLachlan NM, Wilson SJ. (in press). The central role of recognition in auditory perception: A neurobiological model. Psychological Review.
Wilson SJ, Lusher D, Wan CY, Dudgeon P, Reutens DC. (2009). The neurocognitive components of pitch processing: Insights from absolute pitch. Cerebral Cortex, 19, 724-732.
McLachlan NM. (2009). A computational model of human pitch strength and height judgments. Hearing Research, 249, 23-35.
Beecham R, Reeve R, Wilson SJ. (2009). Spatial representations are specific to different domains of knowledge. PLoS ONE, 4, e5543.
Wan CY, Reutens DC, Wood AG, Wilson SJ. (2009). Early but not late blindness leads to enhanced auditory perception. Neuropsychologia, doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.016.
Wilson SJ, Saling MM. (2008). Contributions of the left and right mesial temporal lobes to music memory: Evidence from melodic learning difficulties. Music Perception, 25, 285-296.
Martens M, Wilson SJ, Reutens DC. (2008). Williams syndrome: A critical review of the cognitive, behavioural, and neuroanatomical phenotype. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 576-608.
McLachlan NM, Kumar D, Becker J. (2006). Wavelet classification of indoor environmental sound sources. International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution and Information Processing, 4, 81-96.
Crncec R, Wilson SJ, Prior M. (2006). The cognitive and academic benefits of music to children: Facts and fiction. Educational Psychology, 26, 579-594.
Crncec R, Wilson SJ, Prior M. (2006). No evidence for the Mozart effect in children. Music Perception, 23, 305-317.
Wilson SJ,
Parsons K, Reutens DC. (2006). Preserved singing in aphasia: A case study of the efficacy of Melodic Intonation Therapy. Music Perception, 24, 23-36.
Wilson SJ, Pressing JL, Wales RJ. (2002). Modelling rhythmic function in a musician post-stroke. Neuropsychologia, 40, 1494-1505.
Recent Funding & Grants:
| Project: | Clinical genetic phenotyping of Autism Spectrum Disorders. |
| Year: | 2009-2011 |
| Funded by: | NHMRC Project Grant |
| Project: | A study of acoustical, psycho-acoustical and musicological factors in tuned percussion ensemble design |
| Year: | 2006-2010 |
| Funded by: | ARC Discovery Project |
| Project: | Using Musical Training to Examine Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Skill Development |
| Year: | 2004–2005 |
| Funded by: | ARC Discovery Project |