Josh H. McDermott
Center for Neural Science
New York University
4 Washington Place, Rm 809
New York NY 10003-6603
212-992-8752 (phone)
212-995-4619 (fax)
jhm - at - cns - dot - nyu - dot - edu

Education and Work Experience

New York University
2009-present. Research Associate, Center for Neural Science & Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Advised by Eero Simoncelli.

University of Minnesota
2007-2008. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology. Advised by Andrew Oxenham.

Nature Neuroscience
2006. Assistant Editor.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2001-2006. PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Advised by Edward Adelson.

Nature Neuroscience
2001. Assistant Editor.

University College London
1998-2000. MPhil in Computational Neuroscience. Advised by Geoff Hinton.

Harvard University
1994-1998. B.A. in Brain and Cognitive Science, summa cum laude. Advised by Nancy Kanwisher.

H-B Woodlawn Alternative Program, Arlington,VA
1991-94.

Awards and Honors

2008 - University of Minnesota Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award
2005 - Walle Nauta Award for Continued Dedication to Teaching
2004 - Walle Nauta Award for Continued Dedication to Teaching
2003 - Walle Nauta Award for Continued Dedication to Teaching
2002 - Angus McDonald Award for Undergraduate Teaching
2000 - NDSEG Graduate Fellowship
1998 - Marshall Scholarship
1998 - McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience
1998 - HHMI Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (declined)
1998 - NSF Graduate Fellowship (declined)
1998 - Graduated Summa Cum Laude, Harvard
1997 - Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard
1997 - Barry Goldwater Science Scholarship
1995 - McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience
1995 - Detur Book Prize

Research Interests

• auditory perception and cognition
• the cocktail party problem
• sound representation
• natural sound statistics
• computational audio and machine hearing
• similarities/differences between sensory modalities
• music perception and cognition

Papers

Commentaries and Book Reviews

McDermott, J.H. (2009). Why are we annoyed by the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard? Scientific American Mind, September 2009. 

McDermott, J.H. (2008). The evolution of music. Nature, 453, 287-288. download pdf

McDermott, J.H. (2008). Review of "Music, Language, and the Brain" by A.D. Patel, Oxford University Press. Nature Neuroscience, 11, 377. download pdf

McDermott, J.H. (2008). Meeting Report - Fourth Meeting of Neurosciences and Music, Montreal, 2008. Empirical Musicology Review, 3, 3, 173-174. 

McDermott, J., Hauser, M.D. (2006). Thoughts on an empirical approach to the evolutionary origins of music. Music Perception, 24, 111-116. download pdf

McDermott, J. (2002) Review of "Probabilistic models of the brain" (Eds. R. Rao, B Olshausen, and M. Lewicki), MIT Press. Nature Neuroscience, 5, 829.

Teaching

9.35, Sensation and Perception, Spring 2006
Co-taught course with E. Adelson. Lectured on early and mid-level vision, attention, audition.

9.35, Sensation and Perception, Spring 2005
Co-taught course with E. Adelson and R. Rosenholtz. Lectured on early and mid-level vision, attention, audition.

9.35, Sensation and Perception, Spring 2004
Co-taught course with E. Adelson. Lectured on early and mid-level vision, attention, audition, touch.

9.35, Sensation and Perception, Spring 2003
Co-taught course with E. Adelson and B. Anderson. Lectured on early and mid-level vision, attention, audition.

9.35, Sensation and Perception, Spring 2002
TA'd and gave lectures on audition.

Invited Talks

2012
Department of Psychology, UCSD
Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting, San Diego

2011
Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London
Computational Auditory Scene Analysis Workshop, DAFX, IRCAM, Paris
Department of Cognitive, Perceptual, and Brain Sciences, UCL, London
International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Prague
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Psychology Department, Princeton University
Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting, Baltimore
Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal
Psychology Department, New York University
CCRMA Hearing Seminar, Stanford University
Department of Psychology, Stanford University
Departement d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris

2010
Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University
Psychology Department, Goldsmiths University of London
Computational Audition Workshop, Gatsby Unit, UCL, London
Acoustical Society of America, Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland
Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting, Anaheim, California
Center for Neural Science, NYU
Music Department, Hebrew University
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute

2009
Computer Science Department, Hebrew University
Music Technology Group, NYU
Hearing Research Group, Johns Hopkins University
Hearing Research Center, Boston University
Psychology Department, NYU
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University
Philoctes Center, New York (invited panelist) listen to the recording
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Human and Cognitive Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

2008
Music Department, University of Minnesota
Cafe Scientifique, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Gordon Conference on Sensory Coding and the Natural Environment, Lucca, Italy
Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester
Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona
Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London

2007
McMaster Insitute for Music and Mind Annual Workshop, Hamilton, Ontario
Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, Long Beach
International Workshop on the Biology and Genetics of Music, Bologna, Italy

2006
University of Minnesota Psychology Department
UC Berkeley Psychology Department
Knight Journalism Fellows, MIT
Stanford Psychology Department
Music and Mind Symposium, Harvard
Sconfinata Mente, Rome, Italy

2005
MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cog Lunch
Neurosciences and Music Conference, Leipzig, Germany

2003
Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London
Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, Lake Tahoe

2002
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting, Sarasota
MGH NMR Center, Brain Mapping Seminar

2001
Stanford Psychology Department
Harvard Vision Sciences Seminar
MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Cog Lunch
European Conference on Visual Perception, Kusadasi, Turkey

2000
Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London
Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale

1999
NYU Center for Neural Science
Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London
Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale

1998
European Conference on Visual Perception, Oxford, UK
Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale
Harvard Psychology Department Cognition, Brain, and Behavior Proseminar

1997
Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale
Harvard Psychology Department Cognition, Brain, and Behavior Proseminar

Conference Abstracts

Unrau, A., McDermott, J.H., Trainor, L. (2012). What makes nice sounds sound nice? Examining consonance, harmonicity and beating preferences in 6-month-old infants. International Conference on Infant Studies.

Fedorenko, E., McDermott, J.H., Norman-Haignere, S., Kanwisher, N. (2012). Brain regions sensitive to structure in language vs. music are largely non-overlapping in the human brain. CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E.P. (2012). Evidence for time-averaged summary statistics in auditory perception. International Symposium on Hearing, St. John's College, Cambridge, UK.

McDermott, J.H. (2012). Understanding real-world hearing with sound analysis and synthesis. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E.P. (2012). Evidence for time-averaged statistics in sound texture perception. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Masutomi, K., Overath, T., Kashino, M., McDermott, J.H., Chait, M. (2012). Does recovering sound sources from embedded repetition require directed attention? Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Overath, T., McDermott, J.H., Zarate, J.M., Poeppel, D. (2012). Sensitivity to temporal structure in the human auditory system. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Norman-Haignere, S.V., McDermott, J.H., Kanwisher, N. (2012). A region in human auditory cortex exhibits pitch-selective responses across a wide range of natural and synthetic sounds. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Cousineau, M., McDermott, J.H., Peretz, I. (2012). Congenital amusia produces abnormal perception of dissonance despite normal perception of beating: New evidence for the role of harmonicity in consonance perception. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E.P. (2012). Summary statistics in auditory perception. COSYNE.

Fedorenko, E., McDermott, J.H., Norman-Haignere, S., Kanwisher, N. (2011). Structural processes for music and language are largely non-overlapping in the human brain. Neurobiology of Language Conference.

Overath, T., McDermott, J.H., Zarate, J.M., Poeppel, D. (2011). Sensitivity to temporal structure in the human auditory system. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

Norman-Haignere, S.V., McDermott, J.H., Kanwisher, N. (2011). Regions of auditory cortex exhibit pitch-selective responses across a wide variety of sounds. Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neurophysiology, Satellite Symposium at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

Norman-Haignere, S.V., McDermott, J.H., Fedorenko, E., Kanwisher, N. (2011). Cortical regions specialized for music. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

Cousineau, M., McDermott, J.H., Peretz, I. (2011). Abnormal perception of dissonance in congenital amusia. Neurosciences and Music IV.

Unrau, A., McDermott, J.H., Trainor, L. (2011). Consonance perception in infants: The importance of harmonicity. Neurosciences and Music IV.

Norman-Haignere, S.V., McDermott, J.H., Fedorenko, E., Kanwisher, N. (2011). Cortical regions specialized for music. Society for Music Perception and Cognition Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E.P. (2011). Sound texture perception via statistics of peripheral auditory representations. COSYNE.

McDermott, J.H., Ellis, D.P.W., Simoncelli, E.P. (2011). Empirical derivation of acoustic grouping cues from natural sound statistics. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E.P. (2011). Sound texture perception via statistics of peripheral auditory representations. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Bergevin, C., McDermott, J.H., Roy, S., Li, F., Shera, C., Wang, X. (2011). Stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions as a probe of cochlear tuning in the common marmoset. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Oxenham, A.J., Simoncelli, E.P. (2010). Sound texture perception via synthesis. COSYNE.

McDermott, J.H., Wrobleski, D.M., Oxenham, A.J. (2010). Recovering sound sources from acoustic invariance. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

Schwartz, A., McDermott, J.H., Shinn-Cunningham, B. (2010). Influences of interaural time differences in grouping ambiguous auditory scenes. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Lehr, A.J., Oxenham, A.J. (2010). Exploring the acoustic basis of consonance using individual differences. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Oxenham, A.J., Simoncelli, E.P. (2009). Sound texture perception via synthesis. Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neurophysiology, Satellite Symposium at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Lehr, A.J., Oxenham, A.J. (2009). Exploring consonance using individual differences. Acoustical Society of America, Spring Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Keebler, M.V., Micheyl, C., Oxenham, A.J. (2009). Is pitch interval perception special? Acoustical Society of America, Spring Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Oxenham, A.J. (2009). Learning sources from mixtures. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J.H., Lehr, A.J., Oxenham, A.J. (2008). Is relative pitch specific to pitch? The Neurosciences and Music - III.

McDermott, J.H., Simoncelli, E., Oxenham, A. (2008). Sound texture perception via synthesis. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J., Oxenham, A. (2007). Spectral completion of partially masked sounds. Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting.

McDermott, J., Oxenham, A. (2007). Mechanisms of melody recognition. Psychonomic Society Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J. (2007). Probing the evolutionary origins of music perception . International Workshop on the Biology and Genetics of Music.

McDermott, J. (2005). Probing the evolutionary origins of music perception. 2005 Neurosciences and Music Meeting.

McDermott, J., Adelson, E.H. (2003). Genericity and junctions in motion interpretation. 2003 Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting.

McDermott, J. (2002). Psychophysics of junctions in real images. 2002 Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting, p. 50.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (2001). Genericity, not junctions: Insights from occluded crosses. 2001 European Conference on Visual Perception, Perception (supp), 30, p. 98.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (2000). The computation of occlusion for motion perception. Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology, 2000, Inv. Opth. and Vis. Sci. (supp), 41, p. S544.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (1999). The computation of occlusion for motion perception. 1999 European Conference on Visual Perception, Perception (supp), 28, p. 80.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (1999). Amodal completion and depth segregation in motion integration. Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, 1999, Inv. Opth. and Vis. Sci. (supp), 40, p. S390.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (1998). What makes a good T-junction?. 1998 European Conference on Visual Perception, Perception (supp), 27, p. 40.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (1998). Two modes of interaction in the analysis of motion and occlusion. Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, 1998, Inv. Opth. and Vis. Sci. (supp), 39, p. S462.

McDermott, J., Weiss, Y., Adelson, E.H. (1997). Surface perception and motion integration. Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology Annual Meeting, 1997, Inv. Opth. and Vis. Sci. (supp), 38, p. S237.

McDermott, J. (1996). Sleep induced changes in auditory processing: An fMRI study. 3rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.

McDermott, J. (1996) Speech processing in non-REM sleep. Tucson II: Towards a Science of Consciousness, Tucson, AZ.

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