From Perception to Pleasure

Robert Zatorre was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied music and psychology at Boston University, and obtained his PhD at Brown University, followed by postdoctoral work at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, where he currently holds a Canada Research Chair. His laboratory studies the neural substrates of auditory cognition, focusing on two characteristically human abilities: speech and music. Together with his many students and collaborators he has published more than 300 scientific papers on topics including pitch perception, musical imagery, music production, brain plasticity, hemispheric specialization, and the role of the reward system in musical pleasure. In 2006 he co-founded the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS). His work has been recognized by numerous international prizes, including the C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science (Amsterdam) and the Grand Prix Scientifique from the Institute for Hearing in Paris. He tries to keep up his baroque repertoire on the organ whenever he gets a chance.