Amir Mano

Music is a complex, continuously evolving experience that engages many brain systems simultaneously. My research uses naturalistic fMRI to investigate how the brain responds to realistic musical experiences, moving beyond simplified experimental stimuli. As part of this work, I developed an original musical composition specifically for neuroscience research — a two-part piece titled Brain Movement (Part I and Part II, 8 minutes each), recorded with 25 musicians, allowing us to study brain responses to the same rich musical experience across people with different musical backgrounds.

I am particularly interested in how brain activity unfolds over time and how similar or different neural responses are between musicians. Using dynamic inter-subject correlation, I investigate how the brain's response to music changes throughout the listening experience and how these dynamics may relate to musical expertise. This work aims to provide a more naturalistic understanding of how musical experience is represented in the brain.

My research into music learning began during my MSc, where I investigated how two months of trumpet learning affected the brain. Using diffusion MRI, I examined microstructural changes associated with musical learning, providing evidence that even a relatively short period of acquiring a new musical skill can be reflected in the brain. This work formed the foundation for my broader interest in understanding how musical training drives neuroplasticity.

Building on this work, my next research direction will use a multimodal MRI approach to study music learning longitudinally. By following people as they learn different musical instruments from the beginning of their training, I aim to track how brain structure, microstructure, connectivity, and function change throughout the learning process. Comparing different instruments will also allow me to investigate which aspects of neuroplasticity are shared across musical learning and which are shaped by the specific demands of each instrument.

This research is conducted under the supervision of Prof. Yaniv Assaf, in the Yaniv Assaf Lab.

Learning to play a musical instrument is a complex skill that engages sensory, motor, cognitive, and memory systems. My research investigates how acquiring a new musical skill changes the brain, using multimodal MRI to examine changes in brain structure and connectivity. By studying people as they learn an instrument, as well as individuals with different levels of musical experience, I aim to understand how practice and experience shape the brain.

A particular focus of my research is structural connectomics: studying the brain not only as a collection of individual regions, but as an interconnected network. This approach allows me to investigate how musical learning may alter the organization of connections between brain regions, providing a broader picture of neuroplasticity and how the brain adapts to complex, long-term skills.