Faculty Introduction

NAKATA, Takayuki

Professor
Research Fields
Music perception and cognition, neuroscience of interaction, neuroscience of music
Academic Background
Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University
Subjects in Charge (Undergraduate)
Cognitive Systems I
Degree
Ph.D. in General Experimental Psychology

Message for Students

Music is not only for your enjoyment. Music perception and production can also be topics for your future studies.

Research Contents

My main focus of research concerns how different features of music and prosodic speech influence the way people perceive sound, communicate, and acquire new skills using both behavioral and neurophysiological (EEG) techniques. Questions we investigate include:

  1. Effects of timing expression on perceptual processing and social evaluation during musical interaction.
  2. Musicality in caretaker-infant interaction
  3. Music and speech perception and production by users of cochlear implants
  4. Effects of music on auditory perception and social perception
  5. Music training to enhance sound perception for users of cochlear implants

Attractive Factors of My Research

Understanding how people communicate by ‘musical’ sounds is an effective way to investigate how human cognition and emotion operate.

Achievements

We have shown that infants show preference for music over language. This finding is considered as one important empirical evidence to support the idea that music is an integral part of human development.

With researchers in otolaryngology, speech therapy, and audiology, we have shown that child users of cochlear implants are very musical. Children with cochlear implants typically enjoy singing songs and they can identify familiar songs. We have developed several new testing procedures for music and prosody perception and production for children with cochlear implants. By using these test procedures, we have shown that children with cochlear implants are good at producing rhythmic patterns of familiar songs and imitating speech prosody.

Major Books and Papers

  • Nakata, T., & Trainor, L. J. (2015). Perceptual and cognitive enhancement with an adaptive timing partner: Electrophysiological responses to pitch change. Psychomusicology, 25, 404-415.
  • Nakata, T. (2013). Cochlear implants and music. In H. Takahashi (Ed.). Cholesteatoma and Ear Surgery: An Update. (pp. 155-157). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Kruger Pubilications.
  • Nakata, T., Trehub, S. E., & Kanda, Y. (2012). Effect of cochlear implants on children’s perception and production of speech prosody. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131, 1307-1314.
  • 中田隆行. (2012). 母子間コミュニケーションにおける音楽性. 日本発達心理学会(編), 根ヶ山光一・仲真紀子(責任編集)「発達科学ハンドブック」第４巻：発達の基盤：身体, 認知, 情動, 276-283.
  • Nakata, T., & Trehub, S. E. (2012). Expressive timing and dynamics in infant-directed and non-infant-directed singing. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain, 21, 45-53.
  • Trehub, S. E., Vongpaisal, T., & Nakata, T. (2009). Music in the lives of deaf children with cochlear implants. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 534-542.
  • Trehub, S. E., G., S. E., & Nakata, T. (2008). Cross-cultural perspectives on pitch memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 100, 40-52.
  • Mitani, C., Nakata, T., Trehub, S. E., Kanda, Y., Kumagami, H., Takasaki, K., Miyamoto, I., & Takahashi, H. (2007). Music recognition, music listening, and word recognition by deaf children with cochlear implants. Ear and Hearing, 28, 29S-33S.
  • Schellenberg, G. E., Nakata, T., Hunter, P. G., & Tamoto, S. (2007). Exposure to music and cognitive performance: Tests of children and adults. Psychology of Music, 35, 5-19.
  • Nakata, T., Trehub, S. E., Mitani, C., & Kanda, Y. (2006). Pitch and timing in the songs of deaf children with cochlear implants. Music Perception, 24, 147-154.
  • 中田隆行 (2005). 認知心理学から解き明かす子どもの豊かな心の成長　初等教育資料 10月号　72-75.
  • Nakata, T., & Mitani, C. (2005). Influences of temporal fluctuation on infant attention. Music Perception, 22, 204-248.
  • Nakata, T., Trehub, S. E., Mitani, C., Kanda, Y., Shibasaki, S., & Schellenberg, E. G. (2005). Music recognition by Japanese children with cochlear implants. Journal of Physiological Anthropology and Applied Human Science, 24, 29-32.
  • Nakata, T., & Trehub, S. E. (2004). Infants’ responsiveness to maternal speech and singing. Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 455-464.
  • Schenfield, T., Trehub, S. E., & Nakata, T. (2003). Maternal singing modulates infant arousal. Psychology of Music, 31, 365-375.
  • Trehub, S. E., & Nakata, T. (2002). Emotion and music in infancy. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue 2001-2002, 37-61.