OUR MUSICAL MINDS

Dr Samuel Mehr (University of Auckland)

Music – what is it, how does it work, and why does it exist? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously described music as “the universal language of mankind”. Recent insights from cognitive and developmental psychology, cross-cultural data science, and evolutionary anthropology show that he had the right idea. Sam will present findings from an array of studies that together demonstrate the striking universality of our musical minds.

Sam is this year’s winner of the Prime Minister’s Macdiarmid Emerging Scientist prize. He is Senior Lecturer and Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Auckland and adjunct Associate Professor at the Yale University Child Study Center. He directs The Music Lab, an international research group focusing on the psychology of music.

This talk is sponsored by the Royal Society Te Aparangi (Wellington)