15. Music and The Brain: The science behind how and why music influences our emotions, feelings, and behaviors. In conversation with Dr. Amy Belfi Assistant Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Episode 14: In conversation with Amy Belfi, Assistant Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Music and The Brain:

The science behind how and why music influences our emotions, feelings, and behaviors.

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My guest today is my friend Dr. Amy Belfi. We met for the first time when I visited her at New York University in 2017, when she was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Psychology.

Today, Amy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Missouri S&T, where she also is a mentor and a teacher. Amy has a B.A. in Psychology from St. Olaf College, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Iowa, and a postdoctoral training from NYU.

Her amazing research is all about music and the brain, where she is super curious about answering questions such us; why does a song have the ability to evoke the feeling of chills down our spine, and why does music remind us of memories that we have long forgotten from our past?

She has received 22 honors and rewards, reached 30 + publications and when Amy is not conducting research she is educating the world about her fascinating findings in major conferences.

In this episode, Amy and I discuss the ins and outs of her research findings, on how and why music influences our thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behaviors.

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Full version vlog episode

Music Cognition | Autobiographical Memories | Aesthetic Judgments of Music

SOUNDBITES

#1 The Music Cognition Career Journey of Dr. Amy Belfi.
#2 Name the Tune: Left Temporal Polar is the Part of Our Brain We Use for Naming Songs. (06:22)
#3 Music Evokes Autobiographical Memories More Vivid than Visuals. (10:54)
#4 People Esthetically Judge a Piece of Music Less than a Second. The Perception of Your Choice of Brand Music Matter. (17:54)
#5 Choosing Famous Songs in Audio Branding may not be Beneficial. (21:28)
#6 High Energy Music During Driving Elevates Positive Mood for the Day Ahead – a Study by Ford Spotify and NYU. (24:16)
#7 – Why is Music Important, and Why do we Like it so Much? (28:25)
– How does Our Brain make the Decision of our Taste in Music? (30:58)
– Why does a Song have the Ability to Evoke the Feeling of Chills down our Spine? (32:48)
#8 Aesthetic Judgments of Live and Recorded Music. (37:36)

Dr. Amy Belfi's Publications


TITLE	CITED	YEAR
Music evokes vivid autobiographical memories AM Belfi, B Karlan, D Tranel Memory 24 (7), 979-989	85	2016
Dynamics of aesthetic experience are reflected in the default-mode network AM Belfi, EA Vessel, A Brielmann, AI Isik, A Chatterjee, H Leder, DG Pelli, ... NeuroImage 188, 584-597	31	2019
Damage to the insula is associated with abnormal interpersonal trust AM Belfi, TR Koscik, D Tranel Neuropsychologia 71, 165-172	25	2015
Impaired naming of famous musical melodies is associated with left temporal polar damage. AM Belfi, D Tranel Neuropsychology 28 (3), 429-435	23	2014
Masculinity/femininity predicts brain volumes in normal healthy children AM Belfi, AL Conrad, J Dawson, P Nopoulos Developmental neuropsychology 39 (1), 25-36	23	2014
Individual ratings of vividness predict aesthetic appeal in poetry. AM Belfi, EA Vessel, GG Starr Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 12 (3), 341	22	2018
Musical anhedonia after focal brain damage AM Belfi, E Evans, J Heskje, J Bruss, D Tranel Neuropsychologia 97, 29-37	18	2017
The cognitive and behavioral effects of meningioma lesions involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex TJ Abel, K Manzel, J Bruss, AM Belfi, MA Howard, D Tranel Journal of neurosurgery 124 (6), 1568-1577	17	2016
The default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains EA Vessel, AI Isik, AM Belfi, JL Stahl, GG Starr Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (38), 19155-19164	14	2019
Musical anhedonia and rewards of music listening: current advances and a proposed model AM Belfi, P Loui Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1464 (1), 99-114	11	2020
Rapid timing of musical aesthetic judgments. AM Belfi, A Kasdan, J Rowland, EA Vessel, GG Starr, D Poeppel Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 147 (10), 1531	10	2018
Neurological damage disrupts normal sex differences in psychophysiological responsiveness to music AM Belfi, KH Chen, B Schneider, D Tranel Psychophysiology 53 (1), 14-20	6	2016
Damage to the medial prefrontal cortex impairs music-evoked autobiographical memories. AM Belfi, B Karlan, D Tranel Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain 28 (4), 201	5	2018
Anomia for musical entities AM Belfi, A Kasdan, D Tranel Aphasiology 33 (4), 382-404	4	2019
Neural correlates of recognition and naming of musical instruments. AM Belfi, J Bruss, B Karlan, TJ Abel, D Tranel Neuropsychology 30 (7), 860	4	2016
The famous melodies stimulus set: Development and normative data AM Belfi, K Kacirek Poster presented at the Biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception …	3	2019
The left temporal pole is a convergence region mediating the relation between names and semantic knowledge for unique entities: Further evidence from a “recognition-from-name … B Schneider, J Heskje, J Bruss, D Tranel, AM Belfi cortex 109, 14-24	3	2018
Emotional valence and vividness of imagery predict aesthetic appeal in music. AM Belfi Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain 29 (2-3), 128	2	2019
A neuropsychological investigation of music, emotion, and autobiographical memory AM Belfi University of Iowa	2	2015
The famous melodies stimulus set AM Belfi, K Kacirek Behavior Research Methods 53 (1), 34-48		2021
Musical reward across the lifespan AM Belfi, GL Moreno, M Gugliano, C Neill Aging & Mental Health, 1-8		2021
Aesthetic judgments of live and recorded music: Effects of congruence between musical artist and piece AM Belfi, DW Samson, J Crane, NL Schmidt Frontiers in psychology 12		2021
Embracing Anti-Racist Practices in the Music Perception and Cognition Community DJ Baker, A Belfi, S Creel, J Grahn, E Hannon, P Loui, EH Margulis, ... Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal 38 (2), 103-105		2020
Recognition of musical emotions and their perceived intensity after unilateral brain damage A Pralus, A Belfi, C Hirel, Y Lévêque, L Fornoni, E Bigand, J Jung, ... Cortex 130, 78-93		2020
Comparing Methods for Analyzing Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories AM Belfi, E Bai, A Stroud Music Perception 37 (5), 392-402		2020
Thaut, M. H., & Hodges, D. A. (Eds.). (2019). The Oxford Handbook of Music and the Brain AM Belfi Perception 49 (5), 606-607		2020
Hooked on a Feeling: Influence of Brief Exposure to Familiar Music on Feelings of Emotion in Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease AE Reschke-Hernández, AM Belfi, E Guzmán-Vélez, D Tranel Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 1-13		2020
Investigating a self-reference effect in musical aesthetics A Kasdan, AM Belfi Experimental Results 1		2020
Pleasure GG Starr, AM Belfi Further Reading		2020
Name That Tune: What Parts of Our Brains Do We Use for Naming Songs? AM Belfi, D Tranel Frontiers for Young Minds

15. Music and The Brain: The science behind how and why music influences our emotions, feelings, and behaviors. In conversation with Dr. Amy Belfi Assistant Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology.