The Music Engagement Research Initiative
A cross disciplinary research project merging neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and statistics.

The enjoyment of music is ubiquitous among humans. Its experience varies in the quality and intensity of engagement with the sound, ranging from passive and subconscious to deeply engrossed and attentive. In addition to audition – whether active or passive – music can serve to organize and coordinate movement, and also serves a variety of other utilitarian and hedonistic functions. The Music Engagement Research Initiative (MERI) aims at deepening our understanding of the dynamics of engagement, establishing a theoretical framework, and establishing a metric with which to measure the degree of listener engagement.

We develop and integrate and variety of approaches to measure musical engagement including measuring cortical responses and physiological markers associated with arousal and emotional response to music, as well as analyzing user behavior in online social networks devoted to music.

Correlating statistical analyses of large-scale user trends and behaviors vis a vis music with laboratory studies of music cognition we hope to establish new models of music perception and cognition.

Publications:
Noah Fram and Jonathan Berger.Syncopation as Probabilistic Expectation: Conceptual, Computational, and Experimental Evidence
Cognitive Science, Dec. 2023. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cogs.13390

Nick Gang, Blair Kaneshiro, Jonathan Berger, and Jacek P. Dmochowski (to appear). Decoding Neurally Relevant Musical Features Using Canonical Correlation Analysis. In Proceedings of the 18th International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference, Suzhou, China.

Blair Kaneshiro, Feng Ruan, Casey W. Baker, and Jonathan Berger (2017). Characterizing Listener Engagement with Popular Songs Using Large-Scale Music Discovery Data. Frontiers in Psychology 8:146. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00416

Blair Kaneshiro, Hyung-Suk Kim, Jorge Herrera, Jieun Oh, Jonathan Berger, and Malcolm Slaney (2013). QBT-Extended: An Annotated Dataset of Melodically Contoured Tapped Queries. In Proceedings of the 14th International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference, Curitiba, Brazil.

Rebecca S. Schaefer, Shinichi Furuya, Leigh M. Smith, Blair Kaneshiro, and Petri Toiviainen (2012). Probing Neural Mechanisms of Music Perception, Cognition, and Performance Using Multivariate Decoding. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain 22:2, 168-174.

Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Neurophysiological and Behavioral Measures of Musical Engagement. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, San Francisco, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2014). Toward an Objective Measure of Listener Engagement with Natural Music Using Inter-Subject EEG Correlation. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 5th Triennial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Seoul, Korea.

Kristin Kueter, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2014). Cherishing the Error: Clashing Schemas and Cognitive Bias in Piano Performance. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 5th Triennial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Seoul, Korea.

Megha Makam, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2014). Capoeira Interaction as a Model of Expectation Formulation and Violation in Real-Time Improvised Performance. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 5th Triennial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Seoul, Korea.

Blair Kaneshiro, Jonathan Berger, Marcos Perreau Guimaraes, and Patrick Suppes (2012). An Exploration of Tonal Expectation Using Single-Trial EEG Classification. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Hyung-Suk Kim, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2012). Tap-It: An iOS App for Sensori-Motor Synchronization (SMS) Experiments. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Naturalistic Music EEG Dataset – Hindi (NMED-H). Stanford Digital Repository.

Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Jonathan Berger, and Patrick Suppes (2015). EEG-Recorded Responses to Short Chord Progressions. Stanford Digital Repository.

Megha Makam, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2014). An Interactive Introduction to the Music and Movements of Brazilian Capoeira. Workshop at the 13th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 5th Triennial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Seoul, Korea.

Talks and Posters

Tysen Dauer, Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Nick Gang, and Jonathan Berger (2017). Engaging with Reich: Using Inter-Subject Correlations to Find Patterns of Engagement with Early Minimalism. Poster presentation at Stanford Music and the Brain Symposium 2017: Engagement, Stanford, USA.

Tysen Dauer, Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Nick Gang, and Jonathan Berger (2017). Measuring Patterns of Engagement with Minimalist Music Using Inter-Subject EEG Correlation. Spoken presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, San Diego, USA.

Nick Gang, Blair Kaneshiro, Jonathan Berger, and Jacek P. Dmochowski (2017). Deriving Maximally Correlated Stimulus-to-Response Mappings Using Naturalistic Music and Ongoing EEG. Spoken presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, San Diego, USA.

Nick Gang, Blair Kaneshiro, Jonathan Berger, and Jacek P. Dmochowski (2017). Hybrid Encoding-Decoding of Stimulus Features and Cortical Responses During Natural Music Listening. Poster presentation at Stanford Music and the Brain Symposium 2017: Engagement, Stanford, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Tom Collins, Duc T. Nguyen, and Jonathan Berger (2017). Investigating the Impact of Tonal and Temporal Structure on Perception of Chord Progressions. Spoken presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, San Diego, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2017). Factors Determining Temporal Reliability of Ongoing EEG Responses to Naturalistic Music. Poster presentation at the OHBM 2017 Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada.

Blair Kaneshiro, Tom Collins, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Using Representational Similarity Analysis to Study Perception of Tonal Categories. Poster presentation at CogMIR: Cognitively Based Music Informatics Research, New York, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Duc T. Nguyen, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Inter-Subject Correlations of Ongoing EEG Reflect Temporal Organization of Naturalistic Music Stimuli. Poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science 28th Annual Convention, Chicago, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Duc T. Nguyen, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Using Synchrony of Cortical, Physiological, and Behavioral Responses to Index Listener Engagement with Naturalistic Music. Poster presentation at the Third Annual Symposium of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford, USA.

Steven Losorelli, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2016). Representation of Musical Beat in Scalp-Recorded EEG Responses: A Comparison of Spatial Filtering Techniques. Poster presentation at the 14th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, San Francisco, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro and Jonathan Berger (2015). A Narrative Framework for Musical Engagement. Poster presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Nashville, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Lewis Kaneshiro, Casey W. Baker, and Jonathan Berger (2015). Large-Scale Music Discovery Behavior: Effects of Genre and Geography. Poster presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Nashville, USA.

Kristin Kueter and Jonathan Berger (2015). Expert Performances: Reflections of Schema-Based Ambiguities in Musical Scores. Spoken presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Nashville, USA.

Jacek P. Dmochowski, Blair Kaneshiro, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (2014). Deriving the Neural Signatures of Musical Features Using Canonical Correlation Analysis. Spoken presentation at CogMIR: Cognitively Based Music Informatics Research, Toronto, Canada.

Kristin Kueter and Jonathan Berger (2013). Because It Sounds Right: Schema-Driven Miscues in Children’s Piano Performance. Poster presentation at the Inaugural Symposium on Music and Language: Development, Montreal, Canada.

Kristin Kueter and Jonathan Berger (2013). Because It Sounds Right: Schema-Driven Miscues in Children’s Piano Performance. Spoken presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Toronto, Canada.

Blair Kaneshiro, Luke Dahl, Megha Makam, Marcos Perreau Guimaraes, Jonathan Berger, and Patrick Suppes (2012). Musical Meter Induction and Preservation Can Be Classified in Single EEG Trials. Poster presentation at the Association for Psychological Science 24th Annual Convention, Chicago, USA.

Blair Kaneshiro, Casey W. Baker, and Jonathan Berger (in preparation). What Drives Song Discovery? An Analysis of the Musical Attributes Underlying Shazam Queries.

Blair Kaneshiro, Duc T. Nguyen, Jacek P. Dmochowski, Anthony M. Norcia, and Jonathan Berger (to appear). Neurophysiological and Behavioral Measures of Musical Engagement. Accepted to ICMPC14.

Steven Losorelli, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (to appear). Representation of Musical Beat in Scalp-Recorded EEG Responses: A Comparison of Spatial Filtering Techniques. Accepted to ICMPC14.

Hyung-Suk Kim, Blair Kaneshiro, and Jonathan Berger (2012). Tap-It: An iOS App for Sensori-Motor Synchronization (SMS) Experiments. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, Thessaloniki, Greece. [pdf] []