About the Society for Music Perception and Cognition

Welcome to the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), a scholarly organization dedicated to the study of music cognition.

Activities of the Society

The society hosts a biennial conference, providing opportunities for members of the research community to present new research in the area of music cognition. Past meetings have been held in a variety of cities, hosted by different institutions. In addition, SMPC cooperates with other organizations in music cognition to host international conferences.

SMPC also maintains a bi-weekly digest, in which members are informed of job openings, calls for proposals for grants and papers, and other relevant information to our membership.

Two women pose with an award plaque at the biennial conference.

Objectives of the Society

SMPC bylaws (click to open PDF):
- to further the scientific and scholarly understanding of music from a broad range of disciplines, including music theory, psychology, psychophysics, linguistics, neurology, neurophysiology, ethology, ethnomusicology, artificial intelligence, computer technology, physics and engineering;
- to facilitate cooperation among scholars and scientists who are engaged in research in this interdisciplinary field; and
- to advance education and public understanding of knowledge gained.
SMPC is committed to promoting standards of ethics and professionalism, and as such has developed the following Code and Conduct Policies and Procedures (all links open a Google Doc link).
- All members must abide by SMPC's Code of Conduct
- All conference and SMPC event attendees (whether at virtual or in-person events) must abide by the SMPC Meeting Code of Conduct
- Any reports of Code of Conduct violations will be handled according to the procedures listed in the Policy and Procedures for Code of Conduct Violations

Meet the Society Officers and Board

Past-President - Peter Pfordresher

(2025; President 2023-2024)
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Peter Q. Pfordresher (Ph.D. Ohio State, 2001) is Professor and in the Department of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York where he directs the Auditory Perception and Action Lab.
His research focuses on the relationship between perception and action in the context of music, including the sensorimotor bases of poor-pitch singing, the role of auditory feedback in music performance, cognitive mechanisms for retrieval of music during performance, and the interplay between melody and rhythm during perception and production. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Grammy Museum Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the National Association for Research in Music Education. His books include Sound and Action in Music Performance (Academic Press, 2019) and Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance with Siu-Lan Tan and Rom Harré (3rd edition forthcoming).
Contact: president.past@musicperception.org
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President - Psyche Loui

(2025-2026; President-Elect 2024)
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Psyche Loui is Associate Professor of Creativity and Creative Practice in the Department of Music and director of the MIND (Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics) lab at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD in Psychology from University of California, Berkeley, and dual undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Music from Duke University. Dr. Loui studies the neuroscience of music perception and cognition, tackling questions such as: What gives people the chills when they are moved by a piece of music? How does connectivity in the brain enable or disrupt music perception? Can music be used to help those with neurological and psychiatric disorders? Dr. Loui’s work has been supported by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, received multiple Grammy awards, a young investigator award from the Positive Neuroscience Institute, and a Career award from the National Science Foundation. Her projects have been featured by the Associated Press, New York Times, Boston Globe, BBC, CNN, the Scientist magazine, and other news outlets.

Contact: president@musicperception.org
Secretary - Jennifer Bugos

(2025-2027)
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Jennifer Bugos received her Ph.D. in Music Education with a minor in Gerontology from the University of Florida. She completed postdoctoral work in the Clinical Cognitive Neuropsychology lab at the University of Florida.
Currently, she serves as a Professor of Music Education at the University of South Florida. Dr. Bugos’ research focuses on the neurological basis for music perception and cognition with regard to human development, lifelong learning, and cognitive transfer. Her interests have led to the development of new music education programs for healthy and clinical populations.
Contact: secretary@musicperception.org
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Treasurer - Daniel Shanahan

(2024-2026)
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Daniel Shanahan is an associate professor of Music Theory and Cognition at Northwestern University, and previously ran the Cognitive and Systematic Musicology Lab at Ohio State.
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He served as a member-at-large for the Society for Music Perception and Cognition from 2020–2023, and was the program co-chair of the 2022 conference in Portland. Daniel has served on the editorial boards for Music Theory Spectrum and Musicae Scientiae, among others, and served as co-editor of Empirical Musicology Review from 2016–2022. He has published widely on the topics of music and emotion, corpus studies, and musical communication.
Contact: treasurer@musicperception.org
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At-Large Board Member - Laura Cirelli

(2024-2026)
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Laura Cirelli is assistant professor in Psychology at the University of Toronto and the director of the TEMPO lab. Her research focuses on the social-emotional aspects of musical engagement in early childhood. Using behavioural and physiological methods, she is specifically interested in how infants direct prosociality toward musical partners, how infant directed singing can influence the caregiver-infant relationship, and how rhythm perception and production develops across infancy and childhood.
Contact: mal@musicperception.org (emails all Members-at-Large)
At-Large Board Member - Miriam Lense

(2023-2025)
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Miriam Lense is Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University.
She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Vanderbilt University and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral training at the Marcus Autism Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine. Her research and clinical work focuses on infants, children, and adults with or at-risk for developmental disabilities, with a particular emphasis on autism spectrum disorder and Williams syndrome. Her current research examines the development of rhythmic entrainment in the first years of life, relationships between rhythm and social communication/engagement, musical engagement experiences in individuals with and without developmental disorders, and relationships between music and sensory processing.
Contact: mal@musicperception.org (emails all Members-at-Large)
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At-Large Board Member - Jennifer Zuk

(2025-2027)
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Jennifer Zuk is an Assistant Professor in Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences at Boston University.
She received her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology at Harvard University and completed her clinical training in speech-language pathology at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. As a clinician-scientist, her goal is to advance science that provides actionable steps to help clinicians and families support children’s language and reading development. Her research investigates how musical exposure and experience is associated with speech, language, and reading skills in early childhood. Her work aims to uncover factors that facilitate positive outcomes for children susceptible to language and reading difficulties.
Contact: mal@musicperception.org (emails all Members-at-Large)
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At-Large Board Member - Joshua Albrecht

(2025-2027)
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Joshua Albrecht is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Iowa, where he leads the Iowa Cognitive and Computational Musicology Lab. He received his PhD from Ohio State in 2012, and his research focuses on music and emotion, computational musicology. He is currently serving as co-editor for Empirical Musicology Review.
Contact: mal@musicperception.org (emails all Members-at-Large)
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Equity Officer - Ramesh Balasubramaniam

(2023-2025)
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Ramesh Balasubramaniam is Professor of Cognitive and Information sciences at the University of California, Merced where he serves as the Director of the Center for Human Adaptive Systems and Environments (CHASE).
Much of his work has been in the area of rhythm processing and the ability that humans exhibit in synchronizing their actions to external auditory and visual events. In recent years, he has focused on the role of the motor system in music perception and cognition.
Contact: equity@musicperception.org
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Media and Communications Chair - Amy Belfi

(2024-2026)
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Amy Belfi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Missouri University of Science and Technology.
She received her B.A. in Psychology from St. Olaf College, her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Iowa, and completed postdoctoral training at New York University. Her research focuses on a broad range of topics relating to music perception and cognition, including music and autobiographical memory, aesthetic judgments of music, conceptual representations of musical entities, and musical anhedonia
Contact: webmaster@musicperception.org
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Trainee Member - Noah Fram

(2025-2026)
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Noah Fram is a postdoctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he is a member of the Music Cognition Lab.
His research applies musical rhythm and timing to study cognitive mechanisms underpinning autism, such as temporal prediction and predictive coding, using a combination of neural and behavioral methods. He also works on developing novel analytical methodologies in EEG and eye-tracking. Alongside his research, Noah is an active composer, arranger, and musician, working in music theatre, jazz, and chamber music. He received his BA in mathematics and theatre from Vanderbilt University, MPhil in music studies from the University of Cambridge, and PhD in computer-based music theory and acoustics from Stanford University.
Contact: traineerep@musicperception.org (emails both Trainee Reps)
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Trainee Member - Emily Wood

(2025-2026)
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Emily Wood is a PhD candidate at McMaster University working at the LIVELab. Her PhD research uses motion capture to understand interpersonal coordination and nonverbal communication in expert musicians. Before beginning her PhD, Emily completed a BMus in Jazz Piano Performance from McGill University and a BA in Psychology from Toronto Metropolitan University. Beyond academia, she enjoys playing and writing music, including creating musical stimuli for scientific studies. Emily is also a piano teacher and enjoys sharing her passion for music with students of all ages.
Contact: traineerep@musicperception.org (emails both Trainee Reps)
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