1st Bali Workshop on Music and Brain Successfully Held at Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center
From January 10 to 12, 2024, the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI) successfully hosted the 1st Bali Workshop on Music and Brain at the Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center. Experts and scholars from China, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Indonesia gathered together to share the latest research in music and brain science, exploring the relationships between music and the brain, intelligence, and health, as well as the applications of music in promoting human cognitive, physical well-bing, and mental health. The workshop also invited local Balinese musicians to share their practical experiences and engage in in-depth interactions with participants, enriching the discussions with Bali’s unique cultural context. This fostered cultural inspiration, communication, and collaboration, laying a foundation for future collaborative research in the neuroscience of music.
On January 10, Professor Xiaoqin Wang, Director of the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI), presented the cutting-edge research using the marmoset model at the Tsinghua University Non-Human Primate Research Center. Professor Wang’s work focuses on auditory neural pathways and the neuroscience of music. He introduced auditory experiments conducted with marmosets, specifically elaborating on the neural basis of pitch and tone perception in non-human primates.
Professor Isabelle Peretz from the University of Montreal, Canada, whose research focuses on music cognition and neuromusicology, presented on the topic “Singing in the Brain”. She shared insights into the cognitive processes underlying human singing, especially the perception of pitch, tone, and intonation (for example, why some people sing out of tune without realizing it). She further discussed the neural structures supporting these processes and emphasized the need for more empirical research into the connection between singing, happiness, and health.
Professor Yun Nan from the National Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University gave a talk titled “Individual Differences in Rhythm Perception During Development: Oscillatory Mechanisms and Clinical Prediction”. Starting from predictive modeling in cognition, she explored the neural pathways of beat perception in music, the developmental basis of neural oscillation mechanisms underlying this ability, and the clinical applications of predictive modeling of musical rhythm pathways in children with autism.
Professor Stella Christie from the Child Cognitive Development Center at THBI presented on “Learning Relationships in Music”. She discussed how relational thinking develops in humans and proposed that music itself is a form of relationship. From cognitive development perspecitive, she explored why certain sounds are perceived as music and how humans come to interpret sounds as musical.
On January 11, Professor Andrew Oxenham from the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota delivered a talk titled “Brain Representation and Perceptual Development of Pitch and Timbre”. He investigated the neural basis of pitch and timbre perception in music, discovering their interdependence. He also found that while music shapes brain plasticity, there is no significant neural coding difference for pitch between musicians and non-musicians.
Dr. Samuel Mehr from the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and the Child Study Center at Yale University, USA, delivered a lecture titled “How Music Perception Works”. His research focuses on infant music perception, the social-interactive attributes of music, and its cognitive neural foundations. He shared his Science paper on the universality and diversity of human songs and discussed his most recent findings.
Dr. Juan Huang from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, USA, presented on “Exploring the Neural Mechanisms of Musical Aesthetics: From the Laboratory to the Concert Hall”. She discussed the important roles of auditory-tactile integration in music perception, the neural mechanisms of musical memory and aesthetics, and the suitability of research paradigms spanning from traditional laboratory settings to real-world concert contexts for addressing different layers of questions regarding music and neuroscience.
Komang Sudirga from the Denpasar Institute of the Arts, Indonesia, gave a presentation titled “The Relationship Between Music, Intelligence, and Health, and the Impact of Music on the Brain, Emotions, and Mental Health”. He highlighted the positive effects of music on mental health and human intelligence development. He also gave participants a rich introduction to Balinese Gamelan music, including live performances of several vocal pieces.
On the third day, Professor Hu Bin from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Calgary, Canada, delivered a presentation titled “Cultivating and Training the Next Generation of Music Therapists Through Artificial Intelligence”. He shared in detail how the active music therapy “Step Song” has been effectively applied in the clinical treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Putri Laksmidewi from Udayana University and I.G.N.G. Ngurah General Hospital in Indonesia presented her research on the Balinese flute as a tool to improve cognitive functions in the elderly. Her study found that using the Balinese bamboo flute as a form of music therapy can increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and reduce interleukin-6, thereby maintaining or even enhancing the cognitive abilities in older adults.
Professor Sen Song from the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence (THBI) shared his research on brain-inspired intelligence, computational neuroscience, neuroaesthetics. His talk, “Promoting Positive Emotions and Motivation” focused on the neural basis of happiness and why humans feel joy. He elaborated on his collaborative research with Professor Dan Zhang fromTsinghua University’s Department of Psychology on affective computing, where machine learning methods are applied to model EEG data of positive and negative emotions, enabling classification and analysis of emotional neural activity.
Ms. Miao Yang from the Art Education Center of Tsinghua University presented the university’s diverse cultural and artistic activities and innovative explorations in recent years, supported by high-level facilities and venues. She also proposed new ideas for supporting future collaborative research in music and brain science.
Ms. Kunzhu Zhang from the Tsinghua University Library shared a systemantic overview of the library’s extensive music collections, state-of-the-art facilities at the Music Library, and a wide range of engaging activities.
I Ketut Garwa from the Denpasar Institute of the Arts, Indonesia, introduced the origins and applications of Balinese Gamelan music. Alongside Balinese Gamelan performers, he gave a live demonstration of Gamelan instruments.
Ms. Meijin Lin, Vice President of the UID (Youyi De) Foundation, also attended the event and warmly welcomed the scientists who traveled from around the world. She shared the development plan of Kura Kura Island, where the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center is located, emphasizing the philosophy of “harmony between heaven, earth, and humanity”, to provide a sustainable platform for trust-building, collaboration, and creating a better future. Director Xiaoqin Wang presented her with a marmoset souvenir representing the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence.
During the workshop, experts also engaged in-depth discussions on topics such as “Harmony Across Species: Exploring Evidence for Evolution and Origins”, “Unraveling the Mystery: The Development of Human Music Perception”, “Optimizing Stimuli and Testing Conditions in Music Perception Research”, “Exploring Musical Aesthetics in Concert Halls and Live Performances”, and “The Timing and Applications of Music Therapy in Clinical and Counseling Settings”.
The successful hosting this workshop not only enhanced the international influence of the Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence in the field of music and brain science but also opened new avenues for academic exchange and collaboration with other countries and regions. THBI will continue to promote research progress in this field, providing valuable insights into the understanding of the brain and music.
The event was made possible with the strong support and assistance of the Tsinghua University Research Institute, the Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center, the UID Foundation, and other internal and external partners.