Bringing together jazz music and science as we celebrate the way that music affects our brains and bodies.

Join jazz pianist/composer and 2019 Zuckerman Institute Jazz Artist-in-Residence Helen Sung and Zuckerman Institute Neuroscientist Dr. Michael Shadlen for a jazz concert demonstrating the theory of mind in action on the bandstand, and with you, the listener!

Effective human interaction involves understanding that other people don’t necessarily share the same thoughts and feelings as we do.  Social cognition relies on the capacity to infer the perspective, motivation, and state of mind of others—what psychologists call Theory of Mind—and this capacity shapes our own conscious experiences and interactions. This capacity is on display when jazz musicians interact with each other and with listeners.

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