My research

My work aims at understanding what is unique in the human capacities for speech and music, whether they are linked, and how they evolved in our species. I use a variety of approaches, including techniques from experimental psychology, ethology, bioacoustics, neuroscience, and agent-based modelling.

IAS fellowship (Jun-Dec 2019)

Why are we musical animals? In particular, why do humans have rhythm, and which similar traits can be found in other species?

While at IAS, I will collaborate with Prof. Henkjan Honing to tackle the biology-culture interplay in musical rhythm. In particular, I will (1) finalize the analyses and write a paper reporting human experiments on the cultural transmission of rhythm; (2) design a rhythm experiment in seals, which I will be running in Pieterburen (northern Netherlands), with an agent-based model of rhythmic interaction to complement the experiment; (3) work on a special journal issue on ‘Synchrony and interactive rhythms from neurons to ecology’’, collecting contributions from many disciplines.