Maria Celeste is defending her thesis on the motivational power of music in children and adults

13.06.2019 | Hella Kastbjerg

Monday 24 June at 14:00 Maria Celeste Fasano is defending her thesis:  “From pleasure to learning: The motivational power of music in children and adults”.

The defence is public and takes place in Auditorium 1252-310 (Jeppe Vontilius - Søauditorierne) at Aarhus University.  

Afterwards, Center for Music in the Brain is hosting a reception in Building 1A, Nørrebrogade 44.  

Abstract

Survey studies have shown that music listening is an important source of enjoyment and entertainment for children and adolescents. However, there is a lack of knowledge related to the neural bases of this strong drive. Moreover, despite promising findings showing that pleasurable music training is able to improve executive functions in this young population, there is still relatively little intervention research in this field. Finally, highly expressive playing and the development of a personal commitment to music seem to be strongly related to pleasurable experience of music but, surprisingly, this has not been investigated at a neural level yet.

This PhD project explores the neural underpinning of music pleasure and its interaction with learning processes in children, young adolescents and adults. Study 1 showed that music listening is recurrently able to ‘attract’ a reward brain network in young adolescents, explaining in part their constant drive for music. Study 2 revealed a positive effect of engaging music training on 8-10 year old children in terms of increased inhibitory control and reduced hyperactivity. Finally, Study 3 highlighted a shared recruitment of reward brain regions in expert pianists listening to a sonata and highly motivated to learn that sonata or able to perform it very well.

For more information, please contact PhD student Maria Celeste Fasano, mariacelestefasano@clin.au.dk.

Assessment committee:

Associate Professor Arne Møller (Chairman), CFIN and The PET Center, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark

 Professor, Head of Department Eckart Altenmüller, Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine, Hannover, Germany

Associate professor Tatiana Chemi, Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark