Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

In their letter responding to our forum piece ‘Using music to probe how perception shapes imagination’ [], Küssner and Taruffi [] propose that to advance the field, future research should focus on the sense modalities and causal routes that underlie imaginative responses. We agree with this general sentiment but emphasize here that a much broader set of modalities and causal routes should be considered to promote an understanding of the nature and variability of music-evoked imaginings.

Music can intensify moments of elation and moments of despair. It can connect people and it can divide them. The prospect of psychologists turning their lens on music might give a person the heebie-jeebies, however, conjuring up an image of humorless people in white lab coats manipulating sequences of beeps and boops to make grand pronouncements about human musicality. In truth, that’s historically rather how music psychology used to work.

Having trouble focusing on writing lately? Join the club. Our news cycle has been full of drama since before the last election and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Writers often draw inspiration from current events for their work, so having the internet and decent WiFi is crucial, however, it can also be a huge, shiny distraction. Some writers call it research – legit. Some call it support – also valid.