Waves by Adam Trefonides.
I'm fascinated by how our interaction with the world is coordinated in time: How do we exchange information when we communicate? How do we move to the beat? How do we focus our attention from one moment to the next? I am especially curious about rhythm, which is present in music and language but also within the brain itself.
NEURAL dynamics OF ATTENTION
I recently joined the Sequence Production Lab at McGill University, as a HBHL (Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives) Postdoctoral Fellow. I am studying rhythm, neural dynamics and ADHD, based on the theoretical framework I outlined in this recent review paper:
Slater, J.L., and Tate, M.C. (2018). Timing Deficits in ADHD: Insights From the Neuroscience of Musical Rhythm. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 12(51).
I’m just getting my study up and running, so stay tuned!
Before moving to Montreal I was a postdoc in the department of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern. My former adviser, Dr. Matthew Tate, specializes in awake brain surgery for the removal of brain tumors. His extraordinary work helps extend the lives of individuals with brain cancer, and also offers a unique opportunity to study the inner workings of the brain. Awake surgeries are typically performed when the tumor is impinging on brain areas critical for language or movement. Dr. Tate's team continuously monitors the patient's function during surgery so he can remove as much of the tumor as possible, without affecting the patient's ability to speak or move. With the patients' permission, we take a few minutes during surgery to have the patient perform a simple attention task, while simultaneously recording electrical activity directly from the surface of the brain using a technique called electroencephalography (ECoG). With a high degree of accuracy, this allows us to understand not only which areas of the brain are active, but also to see how activity in the different regions unfolds over time (something that imaging techniques typically cannot provide).
For more information about Dr. Tate's surgery techniques, check out this video.
Rhythm, COGNITION AND speech perception
I completed my PhD in the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University with Dr. Nina Kraus. My dissertation work investigated rhythm and neural timing in speech perception and cognition, in adult drummers, vocalists and non-musicians. I discovered that rhythm skills relate with the ability to understand sentences in noise, and also that stronger rhythm skills relate with better attention skills.
Slater J, Kraus N, Woodruff Carr K, Tierney A, Azem A, Ashley R. (2017) Speech-in-noise perception is linked to rhythm production skills in adult percussionists and non-musicians. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. doi:10.1080/23273798.2017.1411960.
Slater J, Ashley R, Tierney A, Kraus N (2017) Got Rhythm? Better Inhibitory Control Is Linked with More Consistent Drumming and Enhanced Neural Tracking of the Musical Beat in Adult Percussionists and Nonpercussionists Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01189
Slater J, Azem A, Nicol T, Swedenborg B, Kraus N (2017) Variations on the theme of musical expertise: cognitive and sensory processing in percussionists, vocalists and non-musicians. European Journal of Neuroscience. 45(7): 952-963.
Slater J, Kraus N. (2015) The role of rhythm in perceiving speech in noise: A comparison of percussionists, vocalists and non-musicians. Cognitive Processing.
Impact of music training on development
My qualifying project as a graduate student was a three-year longitudinal study looking at the impact of music training on brain development and language skills in elementary school children. This project was carried out in collaboration with Harmony Project in L.A. and revealed improvements in speech-in-noise perception and neural processing of speech as well as rhythm skills after music training.
Slater J, Skoe E, Strait D, O'Connell S, Thompson E, Kraus N (2015) Music training improves speech-in-noise perception: Longitudinal evidence from a community-based music program. Behavioural Brain Research
Krizman J, Slater J, Skoe E, Marian V, Kraus N. (2015) Neural processing of speech in children is influenced by extent of bilingual experience. Neuroscience Letters.
Kraus N, Hornickel J, Strait DL, Slater J, Thompson EC. (2014) Engagement in community music classes sparks neuroplasticity and language development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Frontiers in Psychology, Cognitive Science.
Slater J, Strait DL, Skoe E, O’Connell S, Thompson E, Kraus N. (2014) Longitudinal effects of group music instruction on literacy skills in low-income children. PlosOne.
Kraus N, Slater J, Thompson E, Hornickel J, Strait DL, Nicol T, White-Schwoch T. (2014) Auditory learning through active engagement with sound: Biological impact of community music lessons in at-risk children. Frontiers Aud Cogn Neurosci. 8(351).
Kraus N, Slater J, Thompson E, Hornickel J, Strait D, Nicol T and White-Schwoch T (2014) Music enrichment programs improve the neural encoding of speech in at-risk children. Journal of Neuroscience.
Slater J, Tierney A, Kraus N (2013) At-risk elementary school children with one year of classroom music instruction are better at keeping a beat. PlosOne. 8(10): e77250.
Attention and cortical response variability
I worked on an interesting project in my first couple of years as a graduate student where we investigated relationships between attention and the variability of the brain's response to sound.
Strait DL, Slater J, O'Connell S, Kraus N (2015) Music training relates to the development of neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 12: 94-104
Strait DL, Slater J, Abecassis V, Kraus N. (2014) Cortical response variability as a developmental index of selective auditory attention. Developmental Science. 17 (2): 175–186.
Book chapters and reviews
These articles cover broader topics and are intended for a more general audience:
Slater, J.L., and Tate, M.C. (2018). Timing Deficits in ADHD: Insights From the Neuroscience of Musical Rhythm. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 12(51).
Kraus N, Slater J (2016). Beyond words: How humans communicate through sound. Annual Review of Psychology.
Kraus N, Slater J (2015) Music and language: relations and disconnections. in The Human Auditory System: Fundamental Organization and Clinical Disorders, 3rd Series. G. Celesia and G. Hickok (eds) Handbook of Clinical Neurology Vol 129. Elsevier, Amsterdam.