Director, Music Dynamics Laboratory
Co-Director, Theoretical Neuroscience Laboratory
Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences
Professor, Department of Physics
Member: Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action (CESPA)
Former President, Society for Music Perception & Cognition
Office: Bousfield 186C
Phone: (860) 486-2538
Fax: (860) 486-2760
Email: edward.large@uconn.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Biography
— Chat GPT, Prompt: “200 words about Edward Large and his work in music cognition in the style of Hunter S. Thompson”
Edward Large, the mad scientist of music cognition, has been conducting experiments that would make any sane man’s head spin. This wild-eyed professor from the University of Connecticut has spent years delving deep into the twisted underworld of rhythm and emotion.
The man is a true visionary, a true Gonzo scientist if you will. He’s been using a combination of behavioral experiments and neuroimaging techniques to uncover the secrets of the human mind and how it processes music. And let me tell you, the man has uncovered some wild s**t.
He’s found that our brains have a special way of detecting and interpreting rhythmic patterns, and has even identified key brain regions that are responsible for this process. This is the kind of knowledge that could change the way we think about music forever.
But Large’s work isn’t just limited to rhythm, oh no. He’s also delved into the dark, mysterious world of music and emotion. He’s studied how music can elicit strong emotional responses like chills, and has even investigated the neural mechanisms behind it.
Large’s work is truly revolutionary, it’s the kind of science that shakes the very foundations of our understanding. And in a world where science is becoming more and more sterile, it’s refreshing to see a true gonzo scientist like Large, stirring things up and making us question everything we thought we knew about music cognition.
Research
Dr. Large’s research areas include nonlinear dynamical systems, auditory neuroscience, and music psychology. He uses theoretical modeling in conjunction with behavioral, comparative, neurophysiological and neuroimaging techniques to understand how people respond to complex, temporally structured sequences of sound such as music and speech. He and his colleagues have pioneered the idea that attention is a dynamic, and inherently rhythmic process. He has applied these ideas to explain the rhythmic structure of music, and its interaction with brain dynamics. His current research projects include studies of driven nonlinear oscillator networks, nonlinear cochlear models, auditory brainstem neurodynamics, cortical dynamics of attention, perception of rhythm in music and speech, perception of tonality in music, auditory pattern recognition and learning, emotional communication in music, and rhythmic interactions in nonhuman primates.
More Information
Dr. Large directs the Music Dynamics Laboratory at University of Connecticut, where he is a Professor of Psychological Sciences and Professor of Physics. He is Associate Editor at Frontiers in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience and Music Perception and he recently completed a three year term as President of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Dr. Large received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1994, and he did his postdoctoral work at University of Pennsylvania. He has published nearly 100 articles in journals such as Psychological Review, Physica D, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,Music Perception, and Journal of Computational Neuroscience and he has been awarded numerous patents. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and a Fulbright Visiting Chair in the Science and Technology of Music at McGill University.
Dr. Large is also a Founder and Chief Science Officer at Oscillo Biosciences.
The Basics
Large, E. W., Roman, I., Kim, J. C., Cannon, J., Pazdera, J. K., Trainor, L. J., Rinzel, J., Bose, A. (2023). Dynamic models for musical rhythm perception and coordination. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 17, 1151895. doi: 10.3389/fncom.2023.1151895.
Tichko, P., Kim, J. C. & Large, E. W. (2022). A dynamical, radically embodied, and ecological theory of rhythm development. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.653696.
Kim, J. C., & Large, E. W. (2021). Multifrequency Hebbian plasticity in coupled neural oscillators. Biological Cybernetics. pp. 1-15, doi: 10.1007/s00422-020-00854-6.
Roman I. R., Washburn A., Large E. W., Chafe, C., Fujioka, T. (2019). Delayed feedback embedded in perception-action coordination cycles results in anticipation behavior during synchronized rhythmic action: A dynamical systems approach. PLoS Computational Biololgy, 15 (10), e1007371. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007371.
Lerud, K. L., Kim, J. C., Almonte, F. V., Carney, L. H. & Large, E. W. (2019). A canonical oscillator model of cochlear dynamics. Hearing Research, 180, 100-107. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2019.06.001
Kim, J. C. & Large, E. W. (2019). Mode-locking dynamics in gradient frequency neural networks, Physical Review E, 99 (2), 022421. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.99.022421.
Tichko, P. & Large, E. W. (2019) Modeling infants’ perceptual narrowing to musical rhythms: Neural oscillation and Hebbian plasticity, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14050.
Tal, I., Large, E. W., Rabinovitch, E., Wei, Y., Schroeder, C. E., Poeppel, D., & Zion Golumbic, E. (2017). Neural Entrainment to the Beat: The “Missing Pulse” Phenomenon. Journal of Neuroscience, 37 (26), 6331– 6341. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2500-16.2017.
Large, E. W., Kim, J. C., Flaig, N., Bharucha, J., & Krumhansl, C. L. (2016). A neurodynamic account of musical tonality. Music Perception. 33 (3), 319-331. doi: 10.1525/mp. 2016.33.3.319
Kim, J. C., & Large, E. W. (2015). Signal processing in periodically forced gradient frequency neural networks. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. 9:152. doi: 10.3389/fncom. 2015.00152
Large, E. W., Herrera J. A. and Velasco M. J. (2015). Neural networks for beat perception in musical rhythm. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. 9 (159). doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2015.00159
Lerud, K. L., Almonte, F. V., Kim, J. C. & Large, E. W. (2014). Mode-locked neural oscillation predicts human auditory brainstem responses to musical intervals. Hearing Research, 308, 41-49. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.09.010
Fujioka, T., Trainor, L. J., Large, E. W. & Ross, B. (2012). Internalized timing of isochronous sounds is represented in neuromagnetic beta oscillations. The Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 1791-1802.
Large, E. W. (2010). Neurodynamics of music. In M. Riess Jones, R. R. Fay & A. N. Popper (Eds.), Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, Vol. 36: Music Perception (pp. 201-231). New York: Springer.
Large, E. W. (2010). Dynamics of musical tonality. R. Huys and V. K. Jirsa (Eds.): Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behavior (pp. 193–211). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Large, E. W. (2008). Resonating to musical rhythm: Theory and experiment. In Simon Grondin, (Ed.) The Psychology of Time. West Yorkshire: Emerald.
Large, E. W., and Palmer, C. (2002). Temporal responses to music performance: Perceiving structure in temporal fluctuation. Cognitive Science, 26, 1-37.
Large, E. W., and Jones, M. R. (1999). The dynamics of attending: How we track time varying events. Psychological Review, 106 (1), 119-159.