Come and meet him in person!
- Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m., followed by a cocktail.
- Université de Montréal, Pavillon Marie-Victorin, Room D-427 : Please register via the Doodle link
Toward a Neural Basis of the Inner Voice: Implications for Speech and Music Processing
Abstract: Researchers in music cognition assume that the processes that they study – such as listening, discrimination, and imagery – are tasks that mainly activate auditory parts of the brain. However, much evidence has accrued in recent years to indicate that such tasks activate the brain system for vocal-motor planning as well, suggesting that subvocalization serves a critical mediating role in the cognition of music and speech. The most ubiquitous manifestation of subvocalization is the inner voice that the majority of people experience throughout their daily lives. In this talk, I will describe the subvocalization system of the human brain and argue that it is implicated in virtually all aspects of speech and music processing.
Bio: Steven Brown is the director of the NeuroArts Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University. His research deals with the neural basis of the arts, including music, dance, acting, pantomime, storytelling, cinema, drawing, aesthetics, and creativity. He is author of “The Unification of the Arts” (Oxford University Press) and co-editor of “The Origins of Music” (MIT Press) and “Music and Manipulation” (Berghahn Books).
