Dr Maria Witek

Dr Maria Witek

Department of Music
Associate Professor

Contact details

Address
Room 106, Ashley Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Witek’s main interest is in researching the psychology, cognitive science and cognitive philosophy of musical experience, with a focus on rhythm, timing, emotion and body-movement. Much of her work is centred on trying to understand how dance music experiences and practices emerge from interactions between embodied, neural, musical and social processes. To date, she has focused primarily on the study of groove – the pleasurable experience of wanting to move to music. More recently, she is studying the cognitive mechanisms underlying rhythmic skill in DJing as well as the social and embodied experiences of disabled and neurodiverse DJs. She uses research methods from across experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, qualitative social psychology, participatory action research, digital music analysis and phenomenology. You can read more about her work and the work of the Witek Lab here.

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. I completed an MA in Music Psychology at Sheffield University, and a doctorate in Music at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Birmingham, I was Assistant Professor at the Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Teaching

  • Introduction to Music Cognition
  • Music and Emotion
  • Music and Gender

Postgraduate supervision

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


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

Research

The main interest of Dr Witek and her lab is in researching the psychology, cognitive neuroscience and cognitive philosophy of musical experience, with a focus on rhythm, timing, emotion and body-movement. Much of Dr Witek's work is centred on trying to understand how dance music experiences and practices emerge from interactions between embodied, neural, musical and social processes. She uses research methods from across experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, qualitative social psychology, digital music analysis and phenomenology. In 2022, she embarked on a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, investigating Embodied Timing and Disability in DJ Practice. She is also a co-investigator on the Augmented Reality for Music Ensemble (ARME) project, which is testing a model of how music ensembles synchronise their playing to achieve a cohesive performance. The model will be used to develop a rehearsal system where musicians can practice with virtual ensembles that adapt their timing to the musician in real time.

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

Schiavio, A, Witek, M & Stupacher, J 2024, 'Meaning-making and creativity in musical entrainment', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1326773. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1326773

Pando‐Naude, V, Matthews, TE, Højlund, A, Jakobsen, S, Østergaard, K, Johnsen, E, Garza‐Villarreal, EA, Witek, MAG, Penhune, V & Vuust, P 2023, 'Dopamine dysregulation in Parkinson's disease flattens the pleasurable urge to move to musical rhythms', European Journal of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.16128

Witek, M, Matthews, T, Bodak, R, Blausz, M, Penhune, V & Vuust, P 2023, 'Musicians and non-musicians show different preference profiles for single chords of varying harmonic complexity', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 2, e0281057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281057

Céspedes-Guevara , J & Witek, M 2023, 'Syncopation levels, but not movement, are associated with pleasantness while listening to rhythmic music', Psychology of Music. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356231153062

Bechtold, T, Kilchenmann, L, Curry, B & Witek, M 2023, 'Understanding the Relationship Between Catchiness and Groove: A Qualitative Study with Popular Music Creators', Music Perception, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 353–372. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2023.40.5.353

Matthews, T, Witek, M, Thibodeau, J, Vuust, P & Penhune, V 2022, 'Perceived motor synchrony with the beat is more strongly associated with groove than measured synchrony', Music Perception, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 423–442. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2022.39.5.423

Danieli, L, Witek, M & Haworth, C 2021, 'Space, sonic trajectories and the perception of cadence in electroacoustic music', Journal of New Music Research , vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 266-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2021.1927116

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

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Witek, M 2023, Rhythmic entrainment and embodied cognition. in EH Margulis, P Loui & D Loughridge (eds), The Science-Music Borderlands: Reckoning with the Past and Imagining the Future. MIT Press, pp. 161-182. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14186.003.0015

Wing, A, Witek, M, Stables, R & Bradbury, A 2022, Ensemble timing in string quartets. in M Phillips & M Sergeant (eds), Music and Time: Psychology, Philosophy, Practice. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 73-96. <https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783277087/music-and-time/>

Witek, M 2022, The mind is a DJ: rhythmic entrainment in beatmatching and embodied temporal processing. in M Doffman, E Payne & T Young (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Time in Music. Oxford Handbooks, Oxford University Press, pp. 234-252. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190947279.013.13

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.

Preprint

Tomczak, M, Li, MS, Bradbury, A, Elliott, M, Stables, R, Witek, M, Goodman, T, Abdlkarim, D, Luca, MD, Wing, A & Hockman, J 2022 'Annotation of soft onsets in string ensemble recordings' arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.08848

View all publications in research portal