Daniel Levitin
Daniel Joseph Levitin, FRSC (born December 27, 1957) is an American-Canadian cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, writer, musician, and record producer. He is the author of four New York Times best-selling books, including This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, (Dutton/Penguin 2006; Plume/Penguin 2007) which has sold more than 1 million copies.
Daniel J. Levitin | |
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Levitin in 2015 | |
| Born | December 27, 1957 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American, Canadian |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Berklee College of Music Stanford University (B.A., 1992) University of Oregon (MSc, 1993; PhD, 1996). |
| Known for | Levitin effect, This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs, The Organized Mind, A Field Guide to Lies, Successful Aging (published as The Changing Mind in the U.K.) |
| Spouse | Heather Bortfeld |
| Awards | See "Awards" section |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Music cognition, cognitive neuroscience of music, cognitive psychology |
| Institutions |
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| Academic advisors | Roger Shepard, Michael Posner, Douglas Hintzman, John R. Pierce, Stephen Palmer |
| Notable students | Regina Nuzzo, Susan Rogers |
| Website | daniellevitin |
Levitin is a James McGill Professor Emeritus of psychology, behavioral neuroscience and music at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; a Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at Minerva University; and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley. He is the Director of the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition, and Expertise at McGill. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the Grammys, a consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a fellow of the Psychonomic Society, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC). He has appeared frequently as a guest commentator on NPR and CBC. He has published scientific articles on absolute pitch, music cognition, neuroanatomy, and directional statistics.
His five books have all been international bestsellers, and collectively have sold more 3 million copies worldwide: This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (2006), The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature (2008), The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload (2014), A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age (2016) and Successful Aging (2020).
Levitin also worked as a music consultant, producer and sound designer on albums by Blue Öyster Cult, Chris Isaak, and Joe Satriani among others; produced punk bands including MDC and The Afflicted; and served as a consultant on albums by artists including Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Brook; and as a recording engineer for Santana, Jonathan Richman, O.J. Ekemode and the Nigerian Allstars, and The Grateful Dead. Records and CDs to which he has contributed have sold more than 30 million copies.