Jessica Grahn
  • Home
    • News
    • Blog
  • Research
    • Research Opportunities >
      • Honours Thesis Projects
    • Postdoctoral Position
    • Publications
    • Lab facilities
    • Research Summaries
  • People
  • Repertoire
    • CV
    • Publications
  • Media
    • News Archive
  • Women & Science
  • Links
  • Personal

News

Check out the Media News Archive for more!

September 2020

Undergraduate Awards
Congratulations to Prisca Hsu who was a Regional Winner with her paper entitled "Review of the Literature: Can Music Training Improve Memory?"
Congratulations to Michael who was a Highly Commended Entrant with his paper entitled "The Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Beat Perception Within the Supplementary Motor Area"
A list of the winners can be found here
Picture
Picture

Congratulations Dr. Grahn on being named to College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists 
 The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, created in 2014, is Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. Up to 100 Members may be elected each year and membership is for seven years. Check it out here
Picture

August 2020

Welcome to our newest Postdoctoral Felllow, Swathi Swaminathan!
Swathi's research seeks to understand how artistic, especially musical, endeavours are associated with cognitive development from early childhood to late adulthood. She joins us from Baycrest and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute on August 1. 
Picture

September 2019

Undergraduate Awards
Congratulations to Grahn Lab alumni Cynthia Qi, who received a gold medal in the category of Linguistics for her paper, Acoustic Characteristics used to Differentiate Speech from Song and Individual Factors that Impact their Effectiveness. Cynthia is among only four papers from Canada to be selected as global winners!
https://news.westernu.ca/2019/09/alumni-earn-top-honours-from-undergraduate-awards/

Picture

August 2019

Doctoral Defenses
Congratulations to both Aaron Gibbings and Emily Ready for successfully completing their doctoral theses!
​​
Picture
Picture

June 2019

RPPW Conference 
Jessica Grahn successfully co-organized the 17th Rhythm Production and Perception Workshop. Amazing turnout from international researchers as well as our very own Grahn Lab members!
Picture

May 2019

Discovery Day - Canadian Medical Hall of Fame 
Grahn lab members Avital Sternin, Josh Hoddinott, Syed Raza, Emily Ready and the Sleep and Electrophysiology Laboratory Coordinator at the BMI, Nicolette Noonan demonstrated the equipment our lab uses to investigate the relationship between Music and the Brain.
Picture
Picture

April 2019

Dallas Symphony Soluna Festival 
Dr. Grahn participated in the Music and the Brain Symposium at the Dallas Symphony Soluna Festival.
Picture

September 2018

New Lab Members
Welcome to new PhD student, Kristi Von Handorf, and new MSc students, Justin Hopper and Syed Raza.

August 2018

Master's Theses Defended
Congratulations to Brendon Samuels and Josh Hoddinott for completing their Master's theses with flying colours!
Picture
Picture

April 2018

Mitacs Globalink Resarch Award
Congratulations to senior undergraduate student Ashmita Singh on receiving the Mitacs Globalink Research Award! Due to funding received from Mitacs and Campus France, Ashmita will get a chance to collaborate with Dr. Séverine Samson at the PSITEC laboratory in Lille, France from May to September.

March 2018

Cognitive Neuroscience Society Press Release
Check out some of the work by postdoc Dr. Molly Henry and Dr. Grahn in From Lullabies to Live Concerts: How Music and Rhythm Shape Our Social Brains

Springer Handbook of Systematic Musicology
The Springer Handbook of Systematic Musicology is now published! This handbook features a range of scholars in the field of music cognition, including our very own Aaron Gibbings, Tram Nguyen and Dr. Grahn with their chapter "Rhythm and Beat Perception". ​

January 2018

Daily Beat Article
Dr. Grahn discusses how Music Might Help Neil Diamond Fight His Parkinson's Disease ​

November 2017

Nature Human Behaviour Publication
Dr. Grahn publishes "Tuning the brain to musical delight" in Nature Human Behaviour. 

​July 2017

BBC Mundo Article
There's no escaping Despacito whether its on repeat in your head, on the radio, or in the news!! Check out this BBC Mundo article featuring Dr. Grahn about why Despacito by Luis Fons and Daddy Yankee is so darn catchy. Google translate will be required to read this article in english. ​


June 2017

The Routledge Companion to Music Cognition
The Routledge Companion to Music Cognition is now published! This textbook features global scholars from music theorists, musicologists, pedagogues, neuroscientists, and psychologists covering a range of topics in the field of music cognition. The chapter "Music, Brain and Movement: Time, Beat and Rhythm" was written by Post Doc Molly Henry and Dr. Grahn. 

Cadence Podcasts
This Podcast series by Indre Viskontas which examines how music affects our brains, our lives, and the communities in which we live. Check out Sometimes Behave So Strangely Redux to listen to Post Doc Christina vanden Bosch der Nederlanden discuss the speech-song illusion research. In Feeling the Beat and The Clocks in Your Mind Dr.Grahn discusses how people perceive the beat in music, and how this ability may have been evolutionarily advantageous. 


Certificate of Teaching Excellence Avital Sternin
Congratulations to our PhD student Avital Sternin for receiving a Certificate of Teaching Excellence. 

May 2017

Tom Troscianko Travel Award to Eric Taylor
Congratulations to Post Doc Eric Taylor for receiving the Tom Troscianko Travel Award which funds attendance at European Conference on Visual Perception while encouraging innovative science and interesting travel. 

February 2017

Faculty Profile in Western Undergraduate Research Journal 
Learn more about Dr. Grahn in this Faculty Profile interview published in the Western Undergraduate Research Journal. 

January 2017

AirTalk Discussion
Do you have a go to relaxing song? Dr.Grahn and Matt Sachs ask Can music help alleviate stress, anxiety? ​
​
EMBO Reports Science & Society Article 
This article, Feel the Beat, offers an overview of the various questions associated with music and the brain it features Dr.Grahn discussing the role of the motor system and predictive timing in processing music. 

CTV News Interview
Dr. Grahn responds to viral video "From barely walking to dancing" in CTV News interview discussing the therapeutic effects of music for Parkinson's Patients.

December 2016

Nature of Things Interview
​Watch Dr. Grahn and Dr. Laurel Trainor use the LIVELab at McMaster to study socialbonds created by music in I Got Rhythm: The Science of Song.

November 2016

CTV News Interview
Watch Dr. Grahn talk about the benefits of music on memory, emotion, and cognitive functioning in the CTV news segment Music as Medicine. 

​Article on Pitchfork
Learn about the newest music therapy apps in The Doctor Is In (Your Pocket): How Apps Are Harnessing Music’s Healing Powers as well as Dr. Grahn's work with the Sync Project.

Article in the Washington Post
More older adults learn it’s never too late to pick up a musical instrument Dr. Grahn discusses the benefits of picking up a musical instrument and the differences of learning to play an instrument late in life vs. early in life.  

September 2016

Western Gazette Article 
Dr. Grahn and fellow lab members Molly Henry and Dan Cameron Scientists by day, pop stars by night. 

Brain Waves Podcast
Listen to Dr.Grahn discuss the influence of music on emotions in the Guardian's Brain Waves Podcast Express yourself: how music plays with our emotions.

BrainsCAN
Western BrainsCAN initiative receives $66 Million Federal Grant for Brain Research, the largest grant in the university's history. 

Western News Article 

Commentary: Reprogramming ideas about leadership, success A commentary on Dr.Grahn's lecture 'What do Leaders Look Like? Combating Myths, Bias, and Anxiety on the Path to Success'.  

June 2016

To Parliament Hill
Lab member Daniel Cameron attends meeting between the Canadian Prime Minister and Mexican President to discuss international exchanges.


April 2016

NSERC Discovery Grant
Celebration! NSERC Discovery Grant renewed, with an Accelerator Supplement for three years.

March 2016

Faculty Scholar Award
Dr. Grahn receives Western's Faculty Scholar Award which recognizes outstanding scholarly achievements.

Partnership with Western's Faculty of Music
The Londoner reports about London's newest (academic) supergroup, featuring Dr. Grahn and the new Musical Learning Across the Lifespan (MLAL) Group.

November 2015

Deep Learning Approaches Presentation 
 Watch postdoc Sebastian Stober give his conference presentation on deep learning approaches to detect (from EEG) what musical piece a person is imagining.

October 2015

Society for Music Perception and Cognition
Dr. Grahn elected Secretary of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition Executive Board.

August 2015

Call for postdoc applications
The Brain and Mind Institute (BMI) has funding available for 5 new postdoctoral fellows, open to work with any BMI advisor (including Dr. Grahn!). Deadline Nov 1, 2015.
More Information.


Picture
Article in The Parkinson's Update
Our lab has an article in the newest issue of The Parkinson's Update from The Parkinson's Society of Southwestern Ontario discussing Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation Therapy. Check out the article here on page 14.  
Picture

June 2015

OGS scholarship to Tram Nguyen
Congratulations to PhD student Tram Nguyen for receiving an Ontario Graduate Scholarship for the next two years.

Collaborative Health Research Project grant
Dr. Kara Patterson (U Toronto) and Dr. Grahn were awarded a Canada Health Research Partnership grant, along with Co-Investigators Dr. Joyce Chen (Sunnybrook) and Dr. Vince DePaul (Toronto Rehab). The grant will study the relationship of temporal gait asymmetry to rhythm abilities in patients who have had a stroke.

​Article in the Daily Mail UK
Why listening to music can make you as fit as a fiddle: Includes some quotes from Dr. Grahn

May 2015

Article in The Atlantic Magazine
Can music be used as medicine? Includes quotes from music neuroscientists Dr. Zatorre and Dr. Grahn

Music, memorization, and the brain
How do musicians perform such amazing memory feats on a regular basis? Dr. Grahn explores the brain's role in the classical tradition of musical memorization, in an article for the BBC Proms magazine.

SOLUNA festival
Dr. Grahn will give a lecture at the Dallas Symphony SOLUNA festival. If you want to listen to her, join the Music and the Brain lecture.
Where: Dallas, Perot Museum Of Nature and Science
When: Saturday, May, 16th, 8:30 am - 2:00 pm

NSERC Scholarship to Avital Sternin
Congratulations to our Master's student Avital Sternin for receiving NSERC CGSM for the next year.

Alive Inside
Dr. Grahn was part of two panel discussions of  "Alive Inside" screenings recently. One was hosted by the Alzheimer Society of London & Middlesex in January, and the second by the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors in Toronto in April.

March 2015

Science meets ...
SXSW
Dr. Grahn is giving a talk about "Music as Personalized Medicine" at the SXSW festival in Austin.
Where: Austin, Texas
When: March 17, 2015

Jazz
Dr. Grahn talks about "We got the Beat. Rhythm and Music in the Brain" at the When Art meets Science Seminar of the Jazz Maastricht Festival 
Where: Maastricht, Netherlands
When: March 21, 2015

February 2015

Feb 28: Rhythm and Timing Symposium
The Grahn Lab is very happy to host the very first "Rhythm and Timing Symposium" as an  informal gathering for researchers interested in the perception, production, and cognitive neuroscience of rhythm and timing, and related topics. The Symposium is hosted at Western University on February 28, 2015 and attendees come from labs across Canada and the US.
Keynote Speaker is Dr. Hugo Merchant from  Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México.

Rhythm perception and the motor system
Dr. Grahn is speaking at the 44th Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment (L.O.V.E.) Conference.
Where: Niagara Falls
When: February 5-6, 2015

2014

New postdoctoral fellows
The Music and Neuroscience Lab is very happy to welcome two new Postdocs to our Lab.
Welcome Dr. Lucy McGarry coming from the "SMART lab" at Ryerson University and Dr. Molly Henry from the "Auditory Cognition" research group at the MAX Planck Institute Leipzig!

Dr. Grahn granted Understanding Human Cognition Award from McDonnell Foundation
Dr. Grahn received one of eight awards worldwide in Human Cognition from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. The funds will support a range of projects in the lab over six years.

Dr. Grahn granted tenure
Congratulations from our whole lab to Dr. Jessica Grahn on being granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor from July 1, 2015. 

October 2014: The Musical Brain Conference and iMed
Dr. Grahn will be giving a talk at at the innovating Medicine (iMed) Conference in Lisboa, followed by a talk at the Musical Brain Conference about Mozart and the Musical Memory.
Where: Lisboa, Portugal
When: October 10-12, 2014
and
Where: London, Great Britain
When: October 24, 2014

Two awards from Parkinson Society Canada
The Music and Neuroscience Lab received a Pilot Project Grant and aCIHR priority award for research into the effects of music on gait, and what neural pathways allow music to alter gait in healthy adults as well as patients with Parkinson's Disease..

Dan Alferov in the News!
Picture


Dan Alferov, a volunteer researcher in the Brain and Mind Institute, represented Canada at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. He was awarded with the International Honor Society in Psychology award. 

Read more about his research and accomplishments in these recent news articles:

Let’s face it, he’s No. 1


London teenager developing psychological test that can read your emotions

Congratulations Dan!

Scholarship Winners
Congratulations to PhD students Dan Cameron and Tram Nguyen for winning full scholarships to The Neurosciences and Music conference in Dijon this May! 

June 2014: IAMM 2014
Dr. Grahn will be giving a talk at the 3rd international conference of the International Association for Music and Medicine (IAMM). 
Where: Toronto, Ontario
When: June 24-27, 2014

May 2014:  Minds on Minds Symposium
Dr. Grahn will be speaking at the Faculty of Education's very firstEducation-Neuroscience Symposium.
Where: Ivey Business School, 1225 Western Rd, London, ON
When: May 23, 2014

April 2014: Sex, Drugs and Rock-and-Roll
Dr. Grahn is giving a talk at Western University's Public Lectures series on the effects of music on human movement.
Where: Stevenson & Hunt Meeting Room A, London Central Library, 251 Dundas Street, London, ON
Admission: free; no registration required
When: April 10, 17 and 24 2014, 7-8:30 p.m

March 2014: Science in Society Speaker Series
Dr. Grahn is giving a talk on 'Why We Move To Music' at the Science and Society Speaker Series on March 13, 2014. 
Where: Okanagan Science Center, Vernon, BC
Admission: $7, in advance; $10, at door

November: Grahn Lab attends Parkinson Regional Conference
Li-Ann Leow, Cloris Xue, and Cricia Rinchon of the Grahn Lab attended the Parkinson Regional Conference at the Hilton London to recruit participants for research studies on Parkinson's Disease. Snapd London.

July: Dr. Grahn interviewed for "The New Brain"
In The New Brain, Maclean’s best writers examine the most intriguing ideas about the body’s most complex organ. Dr. Grahn comments on the possible origins of the special musical abilities in humans, and how music and language may have evolved together. She also discusses the role of music in infancy. The New Brain is available online or at newstands now.

April: Dr. Grahn speaks at TEDxWestern
Does music make you smarter? Should babies listen to music to improve their brain development? The answers to these questions and more...
Watch the full talk here--currently over 89,000 views!
 
A recent interview about Mozart effect.

March: Dr. Grahn speaks at TEDxWaterloo
How do human responses to rhythm compare to other animals? What goes on in our brains when we're listening to music?
Watch the full talk here.

March: Working out to music (Scientific American)
Let's Get Physical: The Psychology of Effective Workout Music 
New research clarifies why music and exercise make such a good team, and how to create an optimal workout playlist. Dr. Grahn contributes.
By Ferris Jabr