Description:

Title: (On Zoom) Towards a Neural and Mathematical Understanding of How We Generate and Keep a Musical Beat

Speaker: Amit Bose, Professor of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Abstract: While many people say they have no rhythm, most humans when listening to music can easily discern and move to a beat. On the other hand, many of us are not so adept at actually generating and maintaining a constant beat over a period of time. Demonstrating a beat is a very complicated task. Among other things, it involves the ability of our brains to estimate time intervals and to make physical movements, for example hitting a drum, in coordination with the time estimates that we make. How our brain and body solve this problem is an open and active area of research. In this talk, I will discuss a new mathematical model for a beat generator, which is defined here as a group of neurons that can learn to keep a constant beat across a range of frequencies relevant to music. The model leads to distinct mathematical questions involving order-indeterminate maps and more generally, questions about the nature of time and the role of perception in our ability to make decisions.

**Please note, this event will be held ONLY online via Zoom at the following link: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/93739607735 

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