Research Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology
Karp Foundation Fellow
iversen@nsi.edu

Most broadly, my work is devoted to understanding how humans perceive the world—how we create a rich and detailed view of the world from sensory stimuli. Central to this work is the idea that perception is fundamentally a constructive process, involving the integration of multiple senses as well as behavior. A variety of approaches are taken, both behavioral and neurophysiological, applied to the study of multi-modal relations in perception, as well as sensory-motor coupling. Fundamental to this work is the use of music perception and production as a tool for the study of complex brain processes, including those that may underlie language. Research at NSI has progressed along several main directions concerning a) brain mechanisms of auditory perception in humans, b) rhythm processing, and c) the relation between language and music. A common theme running through all of these projects is rhythm— most generally understood as the organization of events in time. Research projects have included studies of 1) how perception of rhythm can depend on a listener’s native language, 2) how listeners synchronize with the regular beat found in rhythms of varying complexity, comparing performance when rhythms are presented aurally versus visually, 3) how attention to a sound modifies response to that sound, 4) auditory stream segregation, 5) how intentional subjective perception of the ‘’beat’ of a rhythm modulates neural responses and perception.

Education:

• B.A., Physics, Harvard University
• M.Phil., History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
• Ph.D., Speech and Hearing Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Awards and Honors:

• Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (1989)
• Phi Beta Kappa (1990)
• NSF Fellowship (1990)
• Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship (1990)
• Hugh Hampton Young Memorial Fellowship (1998-2000)

Selected Publications:

Patel A.D., Iversen J.R., Chen Y., Repp B.H. (2005). The influence of meter and modality on synchronization with a beat. Experimental Brain Research, 163:226-238.

Iversen, J.R., Patel, A.D. & Ohgushi, K. (2004). Perception of Nonlinguistic Rhythmic Stimuli by American and Japanese Listeners. Proc. of the International Congress of Acoustics, Kyoto.

Patel, A.D., Iversen, J.R., & Rosenberg, J.C. (in press). Comparing the rhythm and melody of speech and music: The case of British English and French. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Seth, A.K., Iversen, J.R., and Edelman, G.M. (in press). Single trial discrimination of truthful from deceptive responses during a game of financial risk using alpha-band MEG signals. Neuroimage.

In the News:

"We may be in rhythm, but out of sync," San Diego Union Tribune, January 4, 2006

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