CIMTR Public Lecture: Music, rhythm, and the developing brain: Insights from basic and applied music neuroscience

Join us online to hear from Dr Marija Pranjić on the use of music-based interventions to support early sensorimotor development.

Over the past two decades, the field of auditory and music neuroscience has undergone a transformative shift, emerging as a powerful and increasingly accessible modality for promoting brain health and rehabilitation. While much of this progress has focused on adult populations, a critical gap remains in understanding how music-based interventions can effectively support early sensorimotor development.

Drawing on converging evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies, this lecture will examine the interplay among auditory perception, rhythmic timing, and sensorimotor function in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. Emphasis will be placed on early developmental windows of plasticity and the translational potential of music-based interventions for early identification and personalised treatment in paediatric populations.

Speaker

Dr Marija Pranjić is a postdoctoral researcher in the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. She also serves as an Instructor in Harvard’s Mind Brain Behavior Division, where she teaches the course Neuroscience of Music: Clinical Applications across the Lifespan.

Marija is a board-certified music therapist and a neurologic music therapy fellow, with degrees in piano performance (BMus, MMus), music therapy (MA), and music neuroscience (PhD). Her research lies at the intersection of music, brain science, and developmental medicine, focusing on music-induced neuroplasticity and its biomedical applications in neurological rehabilitation. Her work has been supported by the GRAMMY Museum Grant, Harvard’s Interdisciplinary Mind Grant, the MITACS Globalink Research Award, among others.

This event is part of the CIMTR Public Lecture Series 2025-26.