Amy Belfi on the Cognition, Neuroscience, and Creation of Music
A researcher's path from playing music to studying it
Listen on our host site, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and elsewhere.
TW Creative Director John Vogel interviews Amy Belfi, PhD, an associate professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Department of Psychological Science exploring the intersection of music, psychology, and neuroscience. During this week’s episode, they discuss intense aesthetic experiences, the role of art in people’s personal lives and society as a whole, and Amy’s journey within the science of music.
Amy Belfi, PhD, is an associate professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Department of Psychological Science. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Olaf College and her PhD in neuroscience from the University of Iowa and completed postdoctoral training at New York University. Her work covers a broad range of topics in the field of music cognition, including music and autobiographical memory, aesthetic judgments of music, and musical anhedonia. She is a recent recipient of the Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science and currently serves as co-editor of the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Music played an immense role in Amy’s upbringing. She played classical piano in school and pursued show choir in college. At the beginning of this week’s episode, she mentions that seeing Green Day live was a huge moment for her. Being able to see one of her favorite bands and have them live up to her expectations solidified the event as a core memory for her.
Her musical background is what drove her to investigate music cognition, despite the words of caution from her peers. At the time, it was seen as “too niche,” and her colleagues didn’t expect her research to go anywhere. Luckily, there was recently a huge boom of interest in music cognition, and Amy has been able to publish countless articles and videos on her findings. You can find a full list of her published work here.
John and Amy also discussed the role of a musician as an artist and how the profession is sometimes seen as frivolous when, in actuality, it is quite necessary. She grew up hearing that she shouldn’t pursue music because her parents and peers wanted her to make money—implying that there’s none to be made in music. So, she studied another passion: psychology. However, she eventually made her way back to music and was able to combine the two.
In doing so, she was able to combine science, which society deems as necessary, and music, which society sometimes perceives as needless.
This interview was also collected as part of John’s personal project, Perfect Recognition, which started out seeking to explore the feeling of intense resonance or pleasure that one can have when making, viewing, or listening to a piece of art. But beyond the single experience, the questions are intended to give context to the interviewee’s upbringing and development on their path to a life that makes art a priority.
One goal of the interviews for this project has been to record them in person with decent audio and video quality. Since Amy is in Missouri and John lives in Philadelphia, recording in person wasn’t convenient until Amy attended the 2023 American Psychological Association Convention in Washington, D.C. This interview took place in a corner of the convention center during the August conference.
Tune in to this episode of the Talking Writing podcast to hear more about creating music, the role of musicians in society, and how music cognition has the power to bridge the arts and sciences.