Music on the Brain: Unconventional Minds

This special edition of Music on the Brain will take place in the Kavli Auditorium of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center.

Join us for an insightful conversation about neurodiversity. We'll hear from two researchers who study the mind and who themselves perceive the world in an unconventional way. What are the challenges and advantages of being neurodivergent? We'll explore the deeply personal and unique ways that people experience the world and music.

Jazz pianist/composer Kelly Green leads an evening of jazz music and conversation with Dr. Sandra Romero Pinto, Alan Kanzer Postdoctoral Fellow at the Zuckerman Institute, and Emaad Razzak, psychology postbaccalaureate student at Columbia University.

Music on the Brain is a collaboration between the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute.

Photography: On occasion, we photograph or video events for promotional and archival purposes. When registering for the event at Jerome L. Greene Science Center, you give Columbia University in the City of New York the right to use your image for said purposes. We will never use your names, age or other identifying factors.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

Kelly Green is a triple threat, mesmerizing audiences as pianist, vocalist, and composer.

Kelly’s remarkable talent has led her to share the stage with jazz legends such as Christian McBride, George Coleman, and many others, showcasing her exceptional skill, empathy, and musicality. She has captivated audiences at prestigious venues like The Kennedy Center, Dizzy's Jazz Club, Birdland, and Blue Note, and has toured with her band all over the US, Europe, and South America.

Her latest album "Seems" was released in March 2024 with Green Soul Studios and La Reserve Records and has received rave reviews. Kelly Green continues to leave an indelible mark on the music world, enchanting listeners with every note.

Born and raised in Peru, Dr. Sandra Romero Pinto, is a neuroscientist in the Aronov Lab at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, where she studies memory in wild food-caching birds, specifically chickadees. Her research explores how animals construct internal models of the world by learning relational maps of their environment. She is particularly interested in how single, impactful experiences—such as traumatic or highly pleasurable events—can rapidly reshape these internal models. By investigating the exceptional memory capacity of chickadees, she aims to uncover how neural networks in the brain store and update these memories.

Emaad Razzak is an emerging neuroscience researcher investigating how individual-level variations in mental imagery inform problem-solving performance and strategies. Driven by his personal experience with aphantasia, he developed a profound commitment to understanding cognitive diversity after grappling with challenges in autobiographical memory and visually demanding domains. Harnessing psychophysiological indices, Emaad’s work uncovers the intricate dance between mental imagery and working memory, revealing their impact on problem solving across diverse cognitive profiles. He has presented these insights at the annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in Tokyo and, in a recent publication, has shed light on how subjective experiences can influence objective metrics. Through his research, Emaad champions more inclusive frameworks in both scientific inquiry and education, ensuring that a wide spectrum of cognitive styles is recognized and supported.

Host or Publisher Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute