Hello!

I am a cross-disciplinary researcher with a primary focus on the cognitive and cultural-evolutionary foundations of music. 

My research examines the relationship between individual cognition and emerging population-level phenomena, asking how internal representations of melodic and harmonic structure scale up to form distinct musical “blueprints” across traditions. In this view, Western cadences—despite their cultural specificity—can be understood as attractor states specialised in expressing a limited yet widely shared set of emotions.

More broadly, I study evolutionary processes operating on culture, which shape how transmitted systems of communication and meaning-making—language and music being prime examples—diversify and differentiate across populations.

Alongside my theoretical and empirical work, I bring a strong quantitative and computational background. My research routinely involves experimental design, statistical modelling, signal processing, and data analysis across behavioural, acoustic, and neuroimaging datasets. I work with reproducible, code-driven workflows and large, heterogeneous datasets, and I am interested in methodological questions at the interface of cognitive science, neuroscience, and data science.

I address these interdisciplinary questions using complementary methodologies:

• • Computational modeling, simulation, and corpus analyses: Test intuitions from music theory using the tools of digital humanities.

  • Neuroimaging and cognitive psychology: Observe behavioral and (neuro)physiological responses to music in light of known mechanisms.

  • Cultural evolution: Interpret these mechanisms to understand the origins of music and language, thereby developing comprehensive, testable theories.

  • Data science, machine learning, and signal processing: Identify and interpret patterns of variability and their sources.

This multi-faceted approach allows me to build a holistic understanding of how music and language evolve and diversify across cultures.

My work has been published in journals such as Science, Cortex, Neuropsychologia, Scientific Reports, and Behavioural and Brain Sciences; as well as featured in media outlets such as the BBC and the ÖRF. 

Recent highlights & upcoming activities

• Summer 2026: research visit at the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE, within NCCR Evolving Language), University of Zurich, where I will explore how musical aesthetic ideals constrain language change over time

• April 2026: I will be presenting at EVOLANG XVI (the International Conference on the Evolution of Language), in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

• Dececember 2025: chapter on the evolution of human synchronisation abilities, co-written with Tecumseh Fitch, accepted in "Nature Beats: the What, Why and How of Animal Rhythmic Behaviours" (Springer)