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Jessica Grahn
Brain and Mind Institute Department of Psychology Natural Sciences Building, 229 Western University London, ON., CANADA 519-661-2111, ext. 84804 
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May news: Early Researcher Awards from Ontario Ministry for Economic Development and Innovation
This $150,000 award from the Ontario government will support trainees in the Grahn lab working on the relationship between music and the motor system in the brain, with the ultimate aim of tailoring musical rhythm to benefit patients with movement disorders. Article in the London Free Press.
April News: Dr. Grahn awarded GRAMMY foundation grant
The music and neuroscience lab has been awarded a GRAMMY Foundation Research Grant to investigate the basis of musical rhythm perception, using the ultra-high field 7-Tesla MRI housed at Western's Robarts Research Institute. These funds will support research to discover the neural underpinnings of our uniquely human capacity for moving to music. This grant is one of only six scientific research grants awarded across all of North America. The project will be conducted in collaboration with ultra-high field MRI experts and Western scientists Stefan Everling and Joe Gati. April 2012.
March News: CFI funds music and neuroscience lab
We are grateful to the Canadian Foundation for Innovation for funding our new lab.
You can listen to an interview about music and the brain and our lab's research on the CBC's Ontario Morning radio show.
The Laboratory for Neuroscience and Musical Rhythm Investigation will support research in several exciting areas, including:
1) How and why does music make us move? In particular, how does music influence different types of movement, and how can we optimize this effect for patients with disorders such as Parkinson's disease?
2) Can comparing the brains of humans and monkeys help us to understand why humans have developed a musical culture?
3) Why do some people 'feel the beat' easily, and while others have two left feet? How does musical or rhythmic ability relate to movement or language ability?
The CFI funding will enable us to purchase cutting-edge equipment in support of research into music and the brain.
March 2012
You can listen to an interview about music and the brain and our lab's research on the CBC's Ontario Morning radio show.
The Laboratory for Neuroscience and Musical Rhythm Investigation will support research in several exciting areas, including:
1) How and why does music make us move? In particular, how does music influence different types of movement, and how can we optimize this effect for patients with disorders such as Parkinson's disease?
2) Can comparing the brains of humans and monkeys help us to understand why humans have developed a musical culture?
3) Why do some people 'feel the beat' easily, and while others have two left feet? How does musical or rhythmic ability relate to movement or language ability?
The CFI funding will enable us to purchase cutting-edge equipment in support of research into music and the brain.
March 2012
About me
I am a cognitive neuroscientist who studies music, appointed as an assistant professor in the Brain and Mind Institute and the Department of Psychology at Western University, in London, Ontario. Until recently I was at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England, and an Associate Lecturer in Biological Psychology with the Open University.
Research Interests Why do we move to music? How is musical rhythm processed in the brain? How do brain responses to musical rhythm differ from similar types of movement and timing? How and why do other animals' brain responses to music differ from ours? Can musical rhythm have therapeutic benefit? (more information).
Other areas in which I have expertise include the use of real-time fMRI scanning to examine if people can change their own brain activity (neurofeedback), effects of training on cognitive function (brain training, musical training), and how listening to different types of music impacts memory. |
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Research Opportunities If you are interested in research opportunities in my lab, please get in touch.
Undergraduate students should send me a CV, transcript, a sample of writing, as well as a short description of why they are interested in this area of research and the time commitment they are able to make. Students may want to read about important traits I look for in both undergrads and grads. Post-docs may want to look at the Banting Fellowships. |
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Speaking with the PublicI enjoy discussing many aspects of how our brains work. I frequently comment on music and its effects on mood, intelligence, and the brain.
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Fun stuff I do sometimes...
