UC Davis researcher to lecture at Lake Tahoe on 'Music, Memory and the Brain'
Whether it be a first crush, a family vacation, or riding in the car with friends, most acknowledge they've banked certain songs that bring back vivid memories.
Because of this, it does beg the question: Why does music form such strong associations? UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center will present a Feb. 6 lecture that may help answer the question. Dr. Petr Janata, a professor at UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and 2010-11 Guggenheim Fellowship scholar will present “Music, Memory and the Brain,” based on his research into neurological links between music and memories.
Janata will provide some answers from his research focused on how music and autobiographical memories interact. Using brain imaging technology, Dr. Janata and his team have found that one part of the brain in particular, the medial prefrontal cortex, seems to serve as a “hub” that links music, memories, and emotions. This region of the brain is one of the last to atrophy over the course of Alzheimer’s disease, so this research has implications for potential breakthroughs in music-based therapies for patients with Alzheimer’s.
Janata has been a professor at the Center for Mind and Brain since 2004. He received his PhD from the University of Oregon’s Institute of Neuroscience and has also taught at Reed College and Dartmouth College. His research lies in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroethology and includes studying music-evoked autobiographical memories to understand how the brain supports music, emotion, and memory.
The program will begin at 6pm at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, located at 291 Country Club Drive in Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, between Tahoe Boulevard/SR 28 and Lakeshore Blvd. on the campus of Sierra Nevada College. No host bar begin at 5:30 p.m. For more information or directions call 775-881-7566, or go here.
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