Daniel J. Levitin, PhD

Daniel J. Levitin is an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, and best-selling author. His research encompasses music, the brain, health, productivity and creativity. Much of his work addresses fundamental issues in higher order cognitive processes, memory, and the perception of structure and patterns, primarily using auditory stimuli like music and speech. His early research is credited with fundamentally changing the way that researchers think about human memory and the neural basis of emotion.

Dr. Levitin earned his B.A. from Stanford in Cognitive Science, his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with a Ph.D. minor in Music Technology from the University of Oregon, and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford University Medical School and UC Berkeley in Neuroimaging and Perception. 

Lindsay A. Fleming, BSc (Honors), MA (Research Assistant II)

Lindsay first joined the Levitin Lab as an undergraduate student in 2000, then stayed on as the coordinator of Levitin's first CFI infrastructure grant. She left the lab in 2002 to pursue graduate studies. Lindsay rejoined the lab in 2015 as Levitin's research assistant, data analyst, and laboratory manager, bringing extensive experience in research project management from her position at the IWK Autism Research Centre in Halifax, NS. Her research interests lie in understanding the potential of music and the arts to influence human behaviour, health, and wellbeing. 

Lindsay earned her B.Sc. (Honors) from McGill University in Psychology, and her M.A. in Child and Youth Studies from Mount Saint Vincent University, with additional coursework completed at Dalhousie University and University of Calgary. 

 

CURRENT PROJECTS

Physics and mathematics approaches to understanding the cognitive-emotional underpinnings of music (funded by NSERC).

Truth Under Fire: A Research Proposal to Extinguish (Or Contain) The Flames (funded by SSHRC).

Laboratory for the Science of Music, Health, and Wellness (Minerva University)

MIIR Audio Tech miiraudiotech.com

Sound Health Initiative (NIH, Kennedy Center, National Endowment for the Arts, Renee Fleming Foundation)


Levitin Lab Visiting Scholars and Special Guests (past and present)

Sting visits the lab for an MRI

Members of Steely Dan visit the lab

Stewart Copeland, collaborator and co-author

Music, Mind, Body, and Brain (in Helsinki with Victor)

Joni Mitchell visits the lab for a guest lecture

Dr. Roger Dumas, Visting Professor (2021 - 2022)

Bobby McFerrin visits the lab & participates in a study

Dr. Eric Kaplan, Visting Professor (2021 - 2022)


Select Publications

(* = student and trainee authors)


Levitin Lab Alumni

Post Doctoral Fellows

Dale Boyle (2011 – 2012). Cognitive neuroscience of music.

Mona Lisa Chanda (2010 – 2013). Music as a moderator for pain in humans.

Catherine Guastavino (2003 – 2005). Subjective evaluation of multi-modal interaction quality. Dr. Guastavino is currently Assistant Professor of Library and Information Sciences at McGill University.

Theodore Koulis (2005 – 2006, co-supervised with Dr. Jim Ramsay). Functional data analysis models of psychoacoustic data. Dr. Koulis is currently a nonclinical statistician for Genetech.

Regina Nuzzo (2002 – 2003, co-supervised with Dr. Jim Ramsay). Functional data analysis and circular statistical methods for psychology. Dr. Nuzzo is currently Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

Bahar Partov (2019 – 2020). Mathematical modeling of 1/f distributions in music.

Graduate Students

Anjali Bhatara, Ph.D. (2004 – 2008). Music as a means of investigating perception of emotion and social attribution in typical development and in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. Bhatara is currently a postdoctoral fellow at University of Paris V.

Jason Corey, Ph.D. (Faculty of Music, 2001 – 2002, co-supervised with Dr. Wieslaw Woszczyk). An integrated system for dynamic control of auditory perspective in a multichannel soundfield. Dr. Corey is currently Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan.

Ladan Mahabadi, Ph.D. (School of Computer Science, 2011 – 2014, cosupervised with Dr. Doina Precup). Music as an information-bearing medium: Extracting latent structure for theoretical and practical purposes. Dr. Mahabadi is currently a Machine Learning Scientist at Amazon.

Adiel Mallik, Ph.D. (Integrated Program in Neuroscience, 2014 – 2019). How music affects theory of mind processes in the brain. Dr. Mallik is now a research scientist at Lucid.

Maria Teresa Moreno Sala, Ph.D. (Faculty of Music, 2003 – 2005, co-supervised with Dr. E. Costa-Giomi). Ph.D. The effects of instruction, cognitive abilities and environmental factors on young children's development of absolute and relative pitch perception. Dr. Moreno Sala is currently Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Laval, Quebec.

René Quesnel, Ph.D. (Faculty of Music, 2000 – 2002, co-supervised with Dr. Wieslaw Woszczyk). A computer-assisted method for training and researching timbre evaluation skills. Dr. Quesnel is currently Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Music at McGill University.

Eve-Marie Quintin, Ph.D. (2005 – 2011, co-supervised with Dr. Helene Poissant). Emotional communication and music in Autism. Dr. Quintin is currently an Assistant Professor in Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill University.

Susan Rogers, Ph.D. (2004 – 2010, co-supervised with Dr. Stephen McAdams). The Influence of Sensory and Cognitive Consonance/Dissonance on Musical Signal Processing. Dr. Rogers is currently Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, Boston.

Vivek Sharma, Ph.D. (Faculty of Music, 2009 – 2011, co-supervised with Dr. Joel Wapnick). Dr. Sharma is now a research fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Anna Tirovolas, Ph.D. (Faculty of Education, 2007 – 2013, co-supervised with Dr. Ron Stringer). Applied music perception and cognition: Predicting sightreading performance. Dr. Tirovolas is currently a psychologist at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

Bradley Vines, Ph.D. (2001 – 2005). Seeing music: Integrating vision and hearing in the perception of musical performances. Dr. Vines is currently the Neuroscience Director at Nielson NeuroFocus.

Undergraduate Students

Bari, Lisa

Barnes, Melynda

Bazarian, Armen

Benn, Jenna

Bernstein, Alexandra

Bieszczad, Kasia

Cameron, Meghan

Carey, Brooke 

Chapados, Catherine

Coape-Arnold, Adam

Craig, Yasmin 

Dalca, Ioana 

Dandiwal, Yuvika

Devost, Isabelle

Dolensky, Nicole

Duan, Marie L. 

Elfassy, Nathaniel 

Elkhalawy, Nour

Finkelberg, Laura 

Florence, Sara

Flores, Oscar

Flowers, Joey

Halabieh, Haya 

Hartshorn, Max 

Hawkins, Sasha

Himmelman, Carla

Houlihan, Kathleen

Hussein, Nora

Kwong, Christine

Lear, Naomi

Levy, Bianca

Lewkowict, Sarah

M'Birkou, Sawsan

Miller, Aliza

Mingrone, Daniel

Morelli, Vanessa

Morris, Laura

Mugyenyi, Bianca

Numerow, Allison

Possert, Jakob

Primiano, Sandra

Quintin, Eve-Marie

Roberts, Meghan

Ryazanov, Arseny 

Sabourin, Patrick

Schaaf, Andrew

Slinkard, Megan

Smith, Sam

Smith, Scott

Stern, Anne

Stern, Daniel

Sullins, Phil

Thompson-Park, Vanessa

Unaldi, Bukle

Vaudeville, Isabelle

Vrieler, Nora

Ward, Jessica

Weinstangel, Hannah

Weinstangel, Ruben

Wong, Sonwa

Zimmerman, Rachel