Music of the Mind: How the Brain Processes and Responds to Music

Where does music live in the mind? Is it an evolutionary byproduct, a trick of perception—or something deeper? From Pinker’s auditory cheesecake to sonic illusions like the McGurk effect and Deutsch’s phantom melodies, music plays with our senses in ways we barely comprehend. Yet its ties to language, memory, and emotion suggest it is fundamental to human thought. Can we see its traces in the brain? This lecture explores whether music is a fleeting illusion—or the key to understanding the mind itself.