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In the PROMUS Lab, we study affective neuroscience, specifically how music, emotion-processing and decision-making intersect. To understand how those processes interact, we study emotion and reward processing across a range of health issues, including how emotion in music is represented in the brain and how that is affected by mood disorders, fibromyalgia and pain, Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions.

We try to understand why people engage with music and how they use music to regulate their mood states, experience of pain and other psychological and physiological symptoms. We combine scientific methodology, imaging techniques and music theory in our research to investigate how information is transmitted through music, how listeners parse that information in a meaningful way and how music impacts the central nervous system in humans. Learn more about our research. >

Our studies explore variability between people.

We investigate the specificity of music elements.

We target interventions and study their effectiveness.

Our research considers the timing of musical interventions.

We study the impact of music on mechanisms in the brain and body.

In the News

How KU Med’s program studying the effects of music on Alzheimer’s patients came about.
| Kansas City Magazine, By Rachel Layton, September 17, 2024.

The latest prescription to boost health and wellbeing: Art. | KC Studio Magazine, By Julius A. Karash, September/October 2024.

Exploring the power of music to treat pain and disease | KU Medical Center News Archive, By Susan Loyacono, July 12, 2024

Can music be prescribed like medicine? This Kansas City scientist is trying to find out | Classical KC, By Christy L’Esperance, Sam Wisman, July 10, 2024

Music for moms: KU Wichita researcher studying music intervention in expectant and new moms | KU School of Medicine-Wichita News

Integrating Special Populations Pilot Award | KU Frontiers News

KL2 Spotlight: Rebecca Lepping, Ph.D., KU School of Medicine-Wichita | KU Frontiers News

Spotlight on Rebecca Lepping, Ph.D. | KU Frontiers News

KU School of Medicine

University of Kansas Medical Center
Department of Neurology
Mailstop 2012
3901 Rainbow Blvd.
Kansas City, KS 66160
Phone: 913-588-6970
Fax: 913-588-6965