Psyche Loui
Research Fellow
Department of Neurology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School
330 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215
ploui [at] bidmc [dot] harvard [dot] edu
http://www.musicianbrain.com

Musical ability taps into interactions among perceptual , motor, cognitive, and emotional  networks in the brain. In this talk I will focus on perceptuo-motor networks underlying  normal and disordered musical function. Tone-deafness, or congenital amusia, is a  dysfunction in musical ability traditionally characterized by deficits in pitch perception. I  will first present data showing that tone-deaf individuals can paradoxically produce pitch  information that they cannot consciously perceive. This suggests a disruption in their  perceptuo-motor network, possibly analogous to action-perception dichotomies in the  visual system. Further studies in our lab identify the network of dysfunction in tone- deafness using behavioral experiments combined with MRI and DTI techniques. Finally, I  will present preliminary results on the possibility of temporarily inducing tone-deaf  behavior in normal individuals via non-invasive brain stimulation.