Ever since she was a little girl, Cassia has loved playing the piano. Her mother made sure she had music lessons, and Cassia felt like she was fulfilling her mother's dream learning the instrument. 

But she also loved science and math, and after her undergrad years she found herself searching for a research field and a graduate program that inspired her. She happened to read a few studies linking neuroscience with music, and was hooked.

Now, Cassia Low Manting, PhD, is a neuroscientist at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, studying how the brain pays attention to music, and if it differs depending on whether the person has received musical training. Her new research paper was just published in Science Advances.