Dr Maria Witek

Department of Music
Senior Birmingham Fellow

Contact details

Email
m.a.g.witek@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@musicognition
View my research portal
Address
Room 106, Ashley Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I’m a research fellow investigating music cognition, psychology and neuroscience, with a special focus on rhythm, body-movement, affect and musical groove.

Feedback and office hours

Office hours

Qualifications

  • BA Musicology, University of Oslo (2006)
  • MA Music Psychology, University of Sheffield (2008)
  • DPhil Music, University of Oxford (2013)

Biography

I have worked and studied across music and cognitive science since finishing my undergraduate degree in musicology in Oslo, most recently as Assistant Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Teaching

  • Introduction to Music Cognition
  • Music and Emotion

Postgraduate supervision

I am interested in hearing from potential doctoral students wishing to study music cognition, psychology and neuroscience, especially (but not limited to) rhythm, body-movement, emotion and groove.

Find out more - our Music postgraduate study  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

My research to date has largely focused on musical groove, which is psychologically defined as a musical quality associated with a pleasurable desire to move. In this work, I have studied how rhythm affords affective experience, using both empirical and theoretical approaches. My empirical methodology has included finger-tapping experiments, motion-capture, physiological recording, brain imaging (fMRI), subjective reports and semi-structured interviews. My music-analytical approach relies on theories of embodied cognition and extended mind.

Other activities

I frequently act as scientific advisor for artists and composers working outside academia, who actively incorporate scientific aspects of music in their work.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Witek, M, Liu, J, Kuubertzie, J, Poku Yankyera, A, Adzei, S & Vuust, P 2020, 'A critical cross-cultural study of sensorimotor and groove responses to syncopation among Ghanaian and American university students and staff', Music Perception, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 278–297. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.37.4.278

Stupacher, J, Witek, M, Vuoskoski, J & Vuust, P 2020, 'Cultural familiarity and individual musical taste differently affect social bonding when moving to music', Scientific Reports, vol. 10, 10015. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66529-1

Matthews, T, Witek, M, Lund, T, Vuust, P & Penhune, V 2020, 'The sensation of groove engages motor and reward networks', NeuroImage, vol. 214, 116768, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116768

Matthews, T, Witek, M, Heggli, OA, Penhune, V & Vuust, P 2019, 'The sensation of groove is affected by the interaction of rhythmic and harmonic complexity', PLoS ONE, vol. 14, no. 1, e0204539. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204539

Vuust, P, Witek, M, Dietz, MJ & Kringelbach, ML 2018, 'Now you hear it: A predictive coding model for understanding rhythmic incongruity', Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13622

Witek, M 2017, 'Filling in: Syncopation, pleasure and distributed embodiment in groove', Music Analysis, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 138–160. https://doi.org/10.1111/musa.12082

Witek, M 2017, 'Syncopation affects free body-movement in musical groove', Experimental Brain Research, vol. 235, no. 4, pp. 995-1005. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4855-6

Witek, M & Vuust, P 2016, 'Comment on Solberg & Jensenius: The temporal dynamics of embodied pleasure in music', Empirical Musicology Review, vol. 11, no. 3-4, pp. 324-329. https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v11i3-4.5353

Gebauer, L & Witek, M 2016, 'Oxytocin improves synchronisation in leader-follower interaction', Scientific Reports, vol. 6, 38416 . https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38416

Danielsen, A, Witek, M, Waadeland, CH & Sundt, HG 2015, 'Effects of instructed timing and tempo on snare drum sound in drum kit performance', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 138, no. 4, pp. 2301-2316. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4930950

Witek, M, Kringelbach, ML & Vuust, P 2015, 'Musical rhythm and affect: Comment on "The Quartet Theory of Human Emotions: An Integrative and Neurofunctional Model" by S. Koelsch et al.', Physics of Life Reviews, vol. 13, pp. 92-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2015.04.029

Witek, M, Clarke, EF, Kringelbach, ML & Vuust, P 2014, 'Effects of polyphonic context, instrumentation, and metrical location on syncopation in music', Music Perception, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 201-217. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2014.32.2.201

Vuust, P & Witek, M 2014, 'Rhythmic complexity and predictive coding: A novel approach to modeling rhythm and meter perception in music', Frontiers, vol. 5, 1111. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01111

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Witek, M 2019, Feeling at one: Socio-affective distribution, vibe and dance music consciousness. in Music and Consciousness 2: Worlds, practices, modalities. Oxford University Press.

Witek, M 2014, Neural underpinnings of music: The polyrhythmic brain. in Neurobiology of Interval Timing.

View all publications in research portal