Peter Vuust is a Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain in Aarhus, a jazz musician, and composer. In this conversation , we talk about his recent review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, how he got to where he is, active inference in music, jazz improvisation, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.). 

Timestamps
00:05: How Peter became a jazz musician
04:54: How Peter became professor of neuroscience
08:20: How to combine two different professions practically?
11:50: Start discussing 'Music in the brain'
24:53: How do prediction errors change with familiarty of a piece of music?
38:18: How does moving to the beat (active inference) reduce prediction errors?
46:48: The 3 dynamics in musical synchronisation
55:10: How does Peter compose for improvisation in jazz?

Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Peter's links

• Website: https://geni.us/vuust-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/vuust-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/vuust-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter:  https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Heggli, Konvalinka, ..., & Vuust (2021). Transient brain networks underlying interpersonal strategies during synchronized action. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.
Heggli, Konvalinka, Kringelbach, & Vuust (2019). Musical interaction is influenced by underlying predictive models and musical expertise. Scientific reports.
Heggli, Cabral, ..., & Kringelbach. (2019). A Kuramoto model of self-other integration across interpersonal synchronization strategies. PLoS computational biology.
Morillon, & Baillet (2017). Motor origin of temporal predictions in auditory attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Rosso, Maes, & Leman (2021). Modality-specific attractor dynamics in dyadic entrainment. Scientific Reports.
Vuust, Heggli, Friston, & Kringelbach (2022). Music in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

See the painting with the 'false' line at 7:30 in this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOfGX6KSiX8&t=458s
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP42C-4zL3w
The last part with frequent time signature changes starts at 30:07.
A survivor from Warsaw by Schoenberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBNz76YFmEQ
3rd movement of Sinfonia by Berio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YU-V2C4ryU
Beatles Documentary by Peter Jackson (Get Back): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9735318/
Blame it on the Boogie, by The Jacksons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqxVMLVe62U