Music Cognition Laboratory
Research on music and cognition, neuromusicology is being carried out since April 2009 in the Department of Clinical Psychology. The Music Cognition Laboratory was formally inaugurated in June 2011. This is the first laboratory in India which aims at neuroscientific investigations of music perception and cognition and to study its neural correlates.
The research focus of this laboratory is music cognition and neuromusicology from basic science to clinical application. The aim is to carry out basic science research (on musically trained, untrained healthy participants and various clinical conditions) as well as clinical research examining the effects of music based intervention to other domains of functioning like cognition, language, emotion and overall functionality in various neurological and psychiatric conditions using neurocognitive evaluation, EEG/ERP, fMRI methods.
The laboratory is equipped with sound proof rooms, 64-channel EEG/ERP system, a recording studio with infrastructure and audio system to carry out audio recording and audio-data processing. Research projects have been funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Intra-mural grant by NIMHANS and by individual donor who has donated (rupees ten lakhs). Research collaborations have been with other scientists in the field- Megan Curtis , Emmanuel Bigand , Jean-Julien Aucouturier , Vinoo Alluri .
Research work so far has examined musical emotion, music and language, rhythm perception, effect of music on other cognitive processes in musically trained and untrained individuals. The variations in musical rhythm perception in clinical conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia and effect of music intervention during spinal surgery on levels of anxiety and pain as well as its effect of anaesthetic drug dosage, level of cortisol has been carried out.
The laboratory has so far had several visiting students from National and International universities for short-term observership/training programme. So far, five M.Phil Clinical Psychology trainees have pursued research in the area of neuromusicology for their dissertation and two PhD students are currently pursuing research in this area. The faculty-in-charge and students have been recipients of various awards and fellowships.
Faculty-in-Charge: Dr. Shantala Hegde
Faculty-in-Charge, and Publications
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