Student video presentations
Welcome to the video presentations page of the ABC Summerschool on Musicality! All videos listed below were made between 14-24 June 2021 by students taking part in the summerschool, on a topic of their interest related to Musicality. We hope you enjoy watching them!
N.B. The videos marked with ‘!’ after the group code are only available to participants in the summerschool, as preferred by the video creators. The password for these posts, as well as more information on the peer commentary assignment, is available on Canvas.
1B. The Misconception Around ‘Study Music’
‘Intense Studying’, ‘Focus Music’, ‘Instrumental Study’: this is just a small representation of the playlists available on Spotify, when it comes to so-called ‘Study Music’. We are quite biased when it comes to what background music while studying should contain. Instrumental, slow tempo, classical genre. But is this really the ideal music to study with?…
3C! The role of music in psychedelic-assisted therapy
In this video we will discuss how people perceive music differently under the influence of psychedelics as well as the role of music in psychedelic-assisted therapy. This video is only available to participants in the ABC summerschool 2021. If you are a participant and have the password, click here.
3B. Chills = pleasure ?
In music related research, chills are often used to measure musical pleasure. However, are chills actually equal to pleasure? In this video, we review both sides of this debate and eventually share our opinion with a discussion about better methodology to measure pleasure. Video By Lucia Liu, Helmke Jansen, and Katja Cornelissen References Bannister, S.…
5B. Are there critical periods in the development of pitch processing?
Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a world-class musician? The ability to hear and differentiate pitches is a fundamental skill of musical experts. Our video addresses a particularly popular question in this context: “Are there critical periods for pitch processing in childhood?” Video By Annika Heyl & Johanna Will We would like to thank…
6A. Dirty Dancing – or is it?
Whether it is fiddler crabs waving their claws in synchrony, birds of paradise rhythmically bouncing around a pole or peacock spiders jumping and waving their legs to sway their potential mate, nature is full of examples of mating rituals that seem to resemble human dance. However, while these “dances” are very interesting to watch, the…
6B. Conducting Cockatoos
Did you ever wonder why music evolved to be so rewarding for humans? Or if music is also pleasurable for other animals? In the past, much research has been conducted in order to determine whether other species enjoyed listening to music, but all these studies share a key component: they played human music. What would…
1A. Musicality in the brain: are there clear neural correlates?
Research into the neural correlates of musicality has consistently implicated Heschl’s gyrus, and areas within and centred around the gyrus, as the centre of music ability in the brain in sighted individuals. But what about individuals without sight? In the congenitally blind, areas usually recruited for visual processing in the occipital cortex are recruited for…
1C! Neural circuitry of music and speech
Do music and speech depend on the same neural circuitry? Our video focuses on two contrasting approaches: the neural sharing hypothesis and the neural overlap hypothesis. We discuss evidence from both behavioural and neuroimaging studies, as well as review methodological limitations and give suggestions for further interdisciplinary research. This video is only available to participants…
2A. What Makes a Song Perfect?
We investigated the influences on musical aesthetics to look for universal underlying factors and to understand the role of culture on its development. Our results point towards the existence of statistically universal features but as well towards the crucial role of culture in the development of musical aesthetics. Video By Daan Kuik, Evgeny Vasilets, and…
2B! Linguistic Constraints on the Cultural Evolution of Music
Music and language are two domains that have coexisted for many years, and there is an ongoing debate about which came first, how they interact with each other, or even how one may dictate the evolution of the other. Can language assist creatively music or can it introduce constraints? This video is only available to…
3A. Music intervention on dementia and its feasibility on sundown syndrome
Research into music intervention in dementia and its feasibility on sundown syndrome. Is music intervention beneficial for patients who suffer from dementia and sundown syndrome. The video presents the individualized music therapy as promising and shows the effects it can have on patients. Furthermore, the video proposes tailored music intervention as a possible solution to…
4A. Statistical Models of Rhythm
Aseka and Olivier compare rule-based models and statistical models of rhythm perception. Video By Aseka Wickramarachchi & Olivier Bais
4B! Music Therapy for Autism
Imagine your therapist only cared about how your behaviour manifested rather than how you felt. This is the reality for many autistic people. Watch our video to find out how music therapy can help. This video is only available to participants in the ABC summerschool 2021. If you are a participant and have the password,…
4C. Music, learning and performance
Many people use music as a way of enhancing performance – be it while studying, to better focus, or as motivation during sports. We explore the complex relationship between music and learning. And we discuss whether the effectiveness of various learning mechanisms is dependent on the domain of the activity, or whether music is simply…
5A! Infant directed singing
In this video we discuss the effect of infant directed singing compared to infant directed speech. We particularly look at how ID singing is more effective in calming down infants than ID speaking. Characteristics of both concepts are presented and current findings of infant directed song are critically discussed. This video is only available to…
5C. Is there prenatal musical learning?
In this video, we review evidence of what the intrauterine auditory environment is like and how much the fetus can react to motherly and external sounds. We further investigate how musically competent babies are by the time they are born and if there is in fact prenatal learning of music. Video By Camila Bruder and Myrte…
6C! Whistling Languages: Bridging the gap between music and language
In our research video, we’ll be taking a look at whistling languages in humans as a case study to bridge the gap between language and music. To widen the evolutionary scope of our analysis, we’ll also be comparing the human capacity to produce whistling languages to birdsong, and highlight some interesting commonalities between the two.…
7A. Music liberation: The legacy of the ballroom culture
With this project, we explore the adaptive functions of music and musicality in humans. More specifically, the function of music and musicality as a mechanism of long term resistance and resilience in communities that are marginalized. We approach this through the lens of the African American and Latin Lgbtq+ community’s underground ballroom counterculture. Image credits:…
7B. What can an embodied cognition perspective tell us about musicality?
Research on musicality has tended to divide into two main fields: while some say that human musical abilities have emerged from natural selection, serving functions essential for survival, others say it is merely a product of culture without greater evolutionary significance. How do we reconcile the evidence for the innateness and universality of some aspects…
7C! Are the musical properties that evoke basic emotions universal or cultural-specific?
In this video, we dive into the big debate on whether musicality is innate or learned. In an attempt to provide more insights in this debate, we explore whether basic emotions evoked by music are universal or cultural-specific. This video is only available to participants in the ABC summerschool 2021. If you are a participant and…
Tag cloud
aesthetics autism ballroom culture birdsong brain circuitry calmness chills cockatoos comparative biology cultural evolution culture Dance dementia embodiment emotions enjoyment focus genres Heschl's gyrus humanities infant research intervention research language learning liberation methodology music music production music therapy neural correlates performance pitch psychedelics resistance reward rhythm sexual selection singing statistical models study music synchronization underground universality whistling languages womb sounds
Latest comments
Yes almost all the research on chills does point at the individual differences between people, mostly the difference in when…
Thanks Puk! Myrte adressed the same topic, it was something we found in the literature, mostly based on the book-chapter…
Thanks Myrte! The notion that experiencing pleasure from music ‘appears’ to be a trait unique to humans is mostly based…
The animations are very well done and super engaging, I found this presentation style very easy to follow and it…
ABC Summerschool Musicality 
Thanks kaelaleyretana, Almost all the research on chills does point at the individual differences between people, mostly the difference in…