Music · Medicine · BrainAll chapters

CHAPTER 01 · The Neurobiology of Creativity

Cerebral Processing of Music

Itay Tokatly Latzer, MD · Saman Arfaie, MD, CM · Phillip L. Pearl, MD, FAES, FACNS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Abstract

Music is a universal art form intrinsic to humanity and human cultures, with archaeological evidence suggesting the existence of musical instruments dating back at least 30,000 years. The neurobiological underpinnings of music perception demonstrate a complex interplay between complex cerebral networks involving auditory, cognitive, emotional, and motor regions, thereby challenging the notion that music processing is localized to specific brain regions. This chapter explores the structural and functional frameworks of the cerebral processing of music. It discusses the phenomenon of absolute pitch and the positive cognitive effects associated with early musical training. The authors also discuss evolutionary theories of music and its role in facilitating social cohesion and cognitive development. With advancements in neuroscience and neuroimaging technologies, our understanding of music’s cerebral processing continues to grow, bringing us closer to a better understanding of the biological foundation, process, and purpose of music.

Keywords

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Cite this chapter

Chapter references below omit unverified page ranges and chapter-specific DOIs.

APA

Tokatly Latzer, I., Arfaie, S., & Pearl, P. L. (2026). Cerebral Processing of Music. In P. L. Pearl & S. Arfaie (Eds.), Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge University Press.

AMA

Tokatly Latzer I, Arfaie S, Pearl PL. Cerebral Processing of Music. In: Pearl PL, Arfaie S, eds. Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge University Press; 2026.

Vancouver

Tokatly Latzer I, Arfaie S, Pearl PL. Cerebral Processing of Music. In: Pearl PL, Arfaie S, editors. Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2026.

Chicago

Tokatly Latzer, Itay, Saman Arfaie, and Phillip L. Pearl. “Cerebral Processing of Music.” In Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity, edited by Phillip L. Pearl and Saman Arfaie. Cambridge University Press, 2026.

BibTeX

@incollection{chapter1_2026,
  author = {Tokatly Latzer, Itay and Arfaie, Saman and Pearl, Phillip L},
  title = {Cerebral Processing of Music},
  booktitle = {Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity},
  editor = {Pearl, Phillip L. and Arfaie, Saman},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  year = {2026}
}

Harvard

Tokatly Latzer, I., Arfaie, S. and Pearl, P. L. (2026) “Cerebral Processing of Music”, in Pearl, P.L. and Arfaie, S. (eds.) Music, Medicine, and the Neurobiology of Creativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Itay Tokatly Latzer

Itay Tokatly Latzer

MD

Physician, Department of Neurology

Boston Children’s Hospital · Harvard Medical School · Tel Aviv University

Profile

Itay Tokatly Latzer is a physician affiliated with the Department of Neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University. His contributions to this volume connect the cerebral processing of music with clinical phenomena at the boundary of perception and disease, including musicogenic seizures and musical hallucinations.

Scholarship & professional background

His published clinical scholarship includes work on succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency, a disorder of GABA metabolism, and on approaches to inherited neurometabolic epilepsies. He has contributed to the development of a clinical severity scale for this condition and to reviews of GABA-related disease. These studies provide a complementary clinical perspective on the volume’s discussions of music, perception, seizures, and neurological function.

Selected work & perspectives

Research publicationsClinical severity assessment in succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiencyGABA metabolism disorders · Research publication
Saman Arfaie

Saman Arfaie

MD, CM

Neurology Resident Physician | McGill University Health Centre (MUHC)MSc Candidate, Integrated Program in Neuroscience | McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute (The Neuro)

McGill University · University of California, Berkeley

Music, memory & creative expression

Saman Arfaie is an Adult Neurology resident physician, neuroscience researcher, and classically trained pianist whose interests connect music, memory, creativity, and neurological disease, with particular attention to the late works of Schubert and Beethoven.

A pianist for more than two decades, he has studied with Tatiana Dardykina, DMA; Jui Sheng Li, DMA; and Dane Ko, DMA, and pursued musicology at the University of California, Berkeley with Professors James Q. Davies and Nicholas Mathew. He presented Echoes of Time & Memory: The Late Piano Works of Schubert at the American Osler Society’s 2026 meeting in Toronto and a Chopin lecture-recital at TEDxMcGill.

Neuroscience & clinical research

At the McGill University Health Centre and Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory, he studies neurodegeneration through fluid biomarkers, PET, and MRI, including Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers, alpha-synuclein pathology in Lewy body disease, vascular modifiers of progression, and Parkinson’s disease subtypes. He uses stereoelectroencephalography to investigate epileptic networks and brain-state transitions, including the effects of radiofrequency thermocoagulation, and contributes to clinical trials through McGill’s Clinical Research Unit.

Education & scholarship

He completed his MD, CM at McGill after earning dual degrees in Molecular and Cell Biology, with an emphasis in Neurobiology, and Near Eastern Languages and Literature at Berkeley, with minors in Chemistry and Music. He is an MSc candidate in McGill’s Integrated Program in Neuroscience. His interdisciplinary monograph COVID-19 Contextualized is under review at the University of Calgary Press. He contributed “Robert’s Health Issues” to Clara and Robert Schumann in Context, and his public engagement includes five TEDx talks.

Selected work & perspectives

Saman Arfaie · Music, repertoire & academic workClara and Robert Schumann in Context · Cambridge contributor biographiesMusic, medicine, and public speaking · McGill University
Phillip L. Pearl

Phillip L. Pearl

MD, FAES, FACNS

Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology | Boston Children’s HospitalWilliam G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology | Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School · Boston Children’s Hospital

Profile

Phillip L. Pearl is Director of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and William G. Lennox Chair and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He studied at Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music before attending the University of Maryland School of Medicine. His research focuses on inherited metabolic epilepsies, particularly disorders of GABA metabolism. A physician and musician, he has published extensively at the intersection of music and medicine and is Co-Editor in Chief of the seventh edition of Swaiman’s Pediatric Neurology.

Scholarship & professional background

His postgraduate training included a pediatric neurology residency at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, followed by fellowship training at Boston Children’s Hospital. Alongside his work on GABA-related disorders, he has developed educational projects connecting neurology with art and music, including Neurology Through Art and Time. His own musical practice encompasses jazz piano, vibraphone, and drums, informing a sustained interest in how musical experience and clinical neuroscience illuminate one another.

He also serves as Co-Director of the Epilepsy Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society and of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, and a past president of both the Child Neurology Society and the Professors of Child Neurology. His honours include the American Epilepsy Society’s 2024 Fritz E. Dreifuss Award.

Selected work & perspectives

Phillip L. Pearl · Boston Children’s HospitalSwaiman’s Pediatric Neurology: Principles and Practice · Seventh editionNeuro-Logic: A Primer on LocalizationInherited Metabolic Epilepsies · Second editionResearch, publications, and clinical neuroscienceMusic, epilepsy, and the brain · International League Against EpilepsyFellowship and Fritz E. Dreifuss Award · American Epilepsy SocietyClinical neurophysiology credentials and pediatric EEG guidelines