Presentations

"New Frontiers in the Genetic Basis of Musicality" - Dr. Reyna Gordon (4/19/2021)

2021 Future Directions of Music Cognition Speaker Series (http://org.osu.edu/mascats/virtual-speaker-series/)

Musicality is a fascinating feature of the human experience that has now been studied extensively with behavioral and cognitive neuroscience methods. While we know from twin studies that human musical traits are moderately heritable, little had been known about the molecular genetic basis of musicality until very recently. Timely advances in genomic analysis methods are now starting to be applied to the genetics of musicality traits, shedding light on specific regions of the human genome that contribute to musical traits and their instantiation in the brain. In this talk, I will convey how recent research into the genetic architecture of individual differences in musical rhythm traits has brought about new knowledge about the biological basis of musicality and specific biological functions shared with other traits. I will discuss exciting new directions in the field that will bring about new understanding of the genetic basis of musicality and its relationship to brain and health.