
About this episode
The episode explores how music influences memory, emotion, and imagination, featuring insights from experts in music cognition.
Music can transport us to a different time and place — but how does that happen? We explore how music affects our brains — from its ability to tap into our memories and imaginations, to “musical daydreaming” and how it helps us understand both the world and ourselves. We also discuss the therapeutic power of music. We talk with Elizabeth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University, about how music affects our brains, and how it helps us make meaning and sense — both of ourselves, and of the world. Her new book is “ Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams .” We listen back to an interview with musician and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin about music's ability to engage our brains, its close link with physical movement, and its function — both therapeutically, and in human evolution. He’s the author of “ I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music As Medicine .”
People in this episode
Guest: Elizabeth Margulis
Topics covered
- music and memory
- music therapy
- cognition
- emotional impact of music
- musical daydreaming
Keywords
- music
- memory
- emotion
- cognition
- therapy
- musical daydreaming
- neuroscience
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Music Cognition Lab, Princeton University
Books & works: Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams, I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music As Medicine
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