October 31, 2:30-3:30 pm @ The Yamada Room at The Curb Center at Vanderbilt: Music Research Forum Talk: "Studying Music Genetics Using Twins: Preliminary Findings on the Genetic Overlap Between Music and Cognition in Early Adolescence"
Dan Gustavson, PhD
My talk will outline the basics of the twin approach, and how we can use longitudinal twin data to examine questions related to music genetics. My preliminary work will describe the genetic/environmental overlap between musical instruments, singing, and dancing experiences at age 12 (N~800 twins). I'll also show some phenotypic and genetic/environmental associations between age 12 musicality and cognitive abilities at age 12 (verbal and nonverbal IQ) and age 16 (vocabulary, executive function).
September 26, 9-10 am @ The Yamada Room at The Curb Center at Vanderbilt: Music Research Forum Talk
Joint VUMC and VU National Endowment for the Arts Research Labs Discussion
Members of the NEA Research Labs from Vanderbilt University (The Arts, Creativity, Cognition and Learning) and VUMC (Arts, Health, and Social/Emotional Well-Being) will discuss the projects, approaches, and methods of their respective Research Labs as a window into the multiple conceptual and methodological frameworks for approaching research into the arts. Discussants include researchers from VUMC, VU, Northwestern, and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Information on the respective labs’ projects can be found at their websites:
https://neacreativitylab.soc.northwestern.edu/
https://www.vumc.org/music-cognition-lab/social-emotional-development-and-community-building-through-music
September 17th @ Vanderbilt University - Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Science Day
The goals of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC) Science Day are to promote “centeredness” by providing a scientific forum for VKC faculty, their students, postdoctoral fellows, and trainees; to promote interdisciplinary research collaboration; and to provide faculty and trainees with an opportunity to present significant research findings and evidence-based service practices. The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab had the opportunity to present two posters at VKC Science Day!
Liu, T., Dai, D., Schultz, B., Liu, C., & Lense, M. (2019, September). Songbooks Increase Parent-Child Social Interactions in Preschoolers with and without ASD. Poster presented at VKC Science Day, Nashville, TN.
Boorom, O., Watson, M., Xin, R., Munoz, V., & Lense, M. (2019, September). The Effect of Musical Play on Interactions Between Children with ASD and their Parents. Poster presented at VKC Science Day, Nashville, TN.
August 5th - August 7th @ New York, NY - 2019 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition
The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab attended the 2019 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC) with three poster presentations and an oral presentation. The presentations are listed below!
Lense, M., Beck, S., Summers, A., Pfeiffer, R., Liu, C., Diaz, N., Goodman, N., & Lynch, M. (2019, August). Parent-Child Integrated Music Program for Preschoolers with ASD: Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy. Oral presentation at SMPC, New York, NY.
Wang, Y., Burchesky, M., & Lense, M. (2019, August). The Contributions of Auditory and Visual Cues to Social Rhythmic Entrainment. Poster presented at SMPC, New York, NY.
Liu, T., Dai, D., Schultz, B., Liu, C., & Lense, M. (2019, August). Songbooks Increase Parent-Child Social Interactions in Preschoolers with and without ASD. Poster presented at SMPC, New York, NY.
Boorom, O., Watson, M., Xin, R., Munoz, V., & Lense, M. (2019, August). The Effect of Musical Play on Interactions Between Children with ASD and their Parents. Poster presented at SMPC, New York, NY.
May 23, 2-3 pm @ The Yamada Room at The Curb Center at Vanderbilt: Music Research Forum Talk - "Behavioral Coding in Music Research"
Sara Beck, PhD
Guests Dr. Sara Beck and student Alex Conway of Randolph College will present on "Behavioral Coding of Children's Musical Engagement in a Classroom Setting." Forum participants will participate in a discussion of behavioral coding approaches in different research settings.
May 1st - May 4th @ Montreal, Canada - INSAR 2019 Annual Meeting
The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab attended the 2019 International SoInternational Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting with three poster presentations and a pre-conference oral presentation. The presentations are listed below!
Quintin, Chenausky, & Boorom. (2019, May). Effects of music on social, cognitive, and brain functioning of people with ASD. Oral presentation at Pre-INSAR Local Community Conference, Montreal, Canada.
Lense, M., Beck, S. (2019, May). Parents, Peers, and Musical Play: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of an Inclusive Parent-Child Music Class Program for Families of Children with and without ASD. Poster presented at INSAR, Montreal, Canada.
Liu, T., Dai, D., Schultz, B., Liu, C., & Lense, M. (2019, May). Increasing Parent-Child Social Interactions in Preschoolers with and without ASD through Song Books. Poster presented at INSAR, Montreal, Canada.
Boorom, O., Watson, M., Xin, R., Munoz, V., & Lense, M. (2019, May). Parental Responsiveness during Musical and Non-Musical Play for Preschoolers with ASD. Poster presented at INSAR, Montreal, Canada.
Monday, April 15th and Wednesday, April 17th @ University of the Virgin Islands - VIUCEDD's 12th Annual Autism Conference
Dr. Miriam Lense will be giving the conference's keynote address on Music, the Brain, Child Development & Autism. Both Dr. Lense and Pablo Jaurez, MEd, BCBA, director of Vanderbilt TRIAD, will be giving breakout session talks. Dr. Lense's breakout talk is on "Music and Social Emotional Well-Being: Research and Clinical Applications". Pablo Juarez's breakout talk is on "The Nashville Approach: Developing Community Driven Expectations of Inclusion".
Saturday, February 9th and Saturday, April 20th 9:30-10:30 am - Nashville Symphony Sensory Friendly Concert Recruitment Event
The Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab will be at the Nashville Symphony's Sensory Friendly Concert on February 9th and April 20th. We will have a table with crafts and other activities. Come to learn more about our research studies!
April 5, 2:30 pm @ The Yamada Room at The Curb Center at Vanderbilt: Music Research Forum Talk - "The Visual Music of Synaesthesia: Perception, Cognition, and Abstract Art"
Polina Dimova, PhD
Vanderbilt University, Visiting Scholar
Artists and scientists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were fascinated with synaesthesia: the figurative or physiological mixing of the senses. They experimented with blending colors, sounds, and shapes in their art, or studied scientifically the phenomenon of 'color-hearing.' But what led to the discovery of synaesthesia in the 1800s, and what can we learn from its early research? Polina Dimova will discuss the intersection of experimental science and multisensory art in the theories of synaesthesia that led to the emergence of abstract art in the early twentieth century and will focus on Wassily Kandinsky and Frank Kupka's abstract paintings of music. The talk will also introduce the time's methods for investigating synaesthesia and will engage the audience in testing their effectiveness for studying multisensory art and music.
Bio: Polina Dimova is a scholar of Russian and European Modernist literature, music, and art. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley and has since taught at Berkeley, Vanderbilt, and Oberlin College. She was recently awarded an ACLS Fellowship to complete her book on synaesthesia "At the Crossroads of the Senses" (forthcoming with Penn State UP), and will be joining the University of Denver as an Assistant Professor of Russian in Fall 2019.
December 13, 2018, 12 pm @ VUMC: Music Research Forum Talk - "Music, Language, & Cognition: The Effects of Structured Systems on Learning and Processing"
Samantha Emerson, PhD
Georgia State University
September 5, 2018: Music Research Forum Talk
Andrea Ravignani, PhD
Sealcentre Pieterburen, The Netherlands, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel
August 9, 2018: Presentation at APA 2018 Convention: "Musical and Social Engagement in Autism Spectrum Disorder". Arts-Based Interventions for Youth With Autism – A Focus on Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Art
American Psychological Association 2018
San Francisco, CA
August 3, 2018: Community Research Partners (CRP) event: "The SeRenade Program: Parents, Peers, and Musical Play for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder"
Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core, Nashville TN
Friday August 3, 8:30-10 am
TN Disability Coalition
955 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206
(Additional parking behind building)
Please RSVP to cerc@vanderbilt.edu or call 615-963-2817
Light Breakfast Provided. This event is open to the public.
May 31, 2018: Music Research Forum Talk - Cognitive links between rhythm perception and reading: a behavioral and neuroimaging investigation
Ola Ozernov-Palchik, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology