School of Communication

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Neural encoding of music

Musical experience has a pervasive effect on the nervous system. Our recent articles show that lifelong musical experience enhances neural encoding of speech as well as music, and heightens audiovisual interaction. Our work suggests that musicians have a specialized neural system for processing sight and sound in the brainstem, the neural gateway to the brain. This evolutionarily ancient part of the brain was previously thought to be relatively unmalleable; however, our studies indicate that music, a high-order cognitive process, affects automatic processing that occurs early in the processing stream, and fundamentally shapes subcortical sensory circuitry.

 

  Slide Show
 

Nina Kraus

Music for the Development of Auditory Skills: Impact on Education, Keynote address at the New York Academy of Sciences Conference, 2011

 

Music Image

Publications

2013

Tierney, Kraus. Neural responses to sounds presented on and off the beat of ecologically valid music. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.
Kraus. Facing the music: Musianship's effect on the brain. Canadian Hearing Report
Parbery-Clark, Anderson, Kraus. Musicians change their tune: how hearing loss alters the neural code. Hearing Research.
Strait, O'Connell, Parbery-Clark, Kraus. Musicians’ enhanced neural differentiation of speech sounds arises early in life: developmental evidence from ages three to thirty. Cerebral Cortex.
Kraus, Anderson. Music training: An antidote for aging? Hearing Journal

2012

Parbery-Clark, Anderson, Hittner, Kraus. Musical experience strengthens the neural representation of sounds important for communication in middle-aged adults. Frontiers
Strait, Parbery-Clark, Hittner, Kraus. Musical training during early childhood enhances the neural encoding of speech in noise. Brain & Language
Skoe & Kraus A little goes a long way: how the adult brain is shaped by musical training in childhood. J Neurosci
Parbery-Clark, Tierney, Strait, Kraus Musicians have fine-tuned neural distinction of speech syllables Neuroscience
Kraus Biological impact of music and software-based auditory training J of Comm Dis
Strait, Chan, Ashley, Kraus Specialization among the specialized: auditory brainstem function is tuned in to timbre Cortex
Parbery-Clark, Anderson, Hittner, Kraus Musical experience offsets age-related delays in neural timing Neurobiol Aging
Kraus, Strait, Parbery-Clark Cognitive factors shape brain networks for auditory skills: spotlight on auditory working memory. Annals of the NYAS

2011

Strait, Hornickel, Kraus Subcortical processing of speech regularities predicts reading and music aptitude in children Behav and Brain Func
Parbery-Clark, Strait, Kraus Context-dependent encoding in the auditory brainstem subserves enhanced speech-in-noise perception in musicians Neuropsychologia
Marmel, Parbery-Clark, Skoe, Nicol, Kraus Harmonic relationships influence auditory brainstem encoding of chords NeuroReport
Strait, Kraus Musical training shapes functional brain networks for selective auditory attention and hearing speech in noise Frontiers in Psych
Parbery-Clark, Strait, Anderson, Hittner, Kraus Musical Experience and the Aging Auditory System: Implications for Cognitive Abilities and Hearing Speech in Noise PLoS ONE
Strait, Kraus Playing Music for a Smarter Ear: Cognitive, Perceptual and Neurobiological Evidence Music Percept
Skoe, Kraus Human subcortical auditory function provides a new conceptual framework for considering modularity. In: Language and music as cognitive systems

2010

Kraus Musical training gives edge in auditory processing Hear Journal
Strait, Kraus, Parbery-Clark, Ashley Musical experience shapes top-down auditory mechanisms: evidence from masking and auditory attention performance Hear Res
Kraus, Chandrasekaran Music training for the development of auditory skills Nat Rev Neurosci
Chandrasekaran, Kraus Music, Noise-Exclusion, and Learning Music Percept
Kraus, Nicol The musician's auditory world Acoustics Today

2009

Parbery-Clark, Skoe, Kraus Musical experience limits the degradative effects of background noise on the neural processing of sound J Neurosci
Parbery-Clark, Skoe, Lam, Kraus Musician enhancement for speech in noise Ear Hear
Lee, Skoe, Kraus, Ashley Selective subcortical enhancement of musical intervals in musicians J Neurosci
Strait, Skoe, Kraus, Ashley Musical experience and neural efficiency: effects of training on subcortical processing of vocal expressions of emotion Eur J Neurosci
Kraus, Skoe, Parbery-Clark, Ashley Experience-induced malleability in neural encoding of pitch, timbre and timing: implications for language and music Annals of the NYAS
Strait, Skoe, Ashley, Kraus Musical experience promotes subcortical efficiency in processing emotional vocal sounds Annals of the NYAS

2008

Musacchia, Strait, Kraus Relationships between behavior, brainstem and cortical encoding of seen and heard speech in musicians and nonmusicians Hear Res
Stegemoller, Skoe, Nicol, Warrier, Kraus Musical training and vocal production of speech and song Music Percept

2007

Musacchia, Sams, Skoe, Kraus Musicians have enhanced subcortical auditory and audiovisual processing of speech and music PNAS
Wong, Skoe, Russo, Dees, Kraus Musical experience shapes human brainstem encoding of linguistic pitch patterns Nature Neurosci

   
   

In the News

 

 

Cognitive factors shape brain networks for auditory skills:
Keynote address at
Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC)
2011 conference

 

Brainstem Toolbox

Supported by:

NSF: Science of Learning Centers Program

NSF: Cognitive Neuroscience Program

Alisa Weilerstein

Alisa Weilerstein, with permission

National Science Foundation, NSF

Grammy  Foundation

NAMM