Not a Musician? Your Brain Can Still Tell What’s Music

Article title: Music-selective neural populations arise without musical training

Authors: Dana Boebinger, Samuel Norman-Haignere, Josh H. McDermott, Nancy Kanwisher

From the authors: “We show that music-selective neural populations are clearly present in people without musical training, demonstrating that they are a fundamental and widespread property of the human brain. Additionally, we show music-selective neural populations respond strongly to music from unfamiliar genres as well as music with rhythm but little pitch information, suggesting that they are broadly responsive to music as a whole.”

This study is highlighted as one of April’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.