«La ciència és una manera de pensar que transcendeix les diferències». Robert J. Zatorre, investit doctor honoris causa
PRESS RELEASE
- El Paranimf ha acollit una cerimònia solemne que reconeix el valor científic i humà de la seva recerca sobre la música, el llenguatge i la ment.
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Institutional
12/05/2025
“Probably, if I were to be put in an MRI machine now, my dopaminergic activation would be through the roof”. With these words — precise and ironic — the neuroscientist Robert J. Zatorre began his speech at the honorary doctorate conferment ceremony by the University of Barcelona, which took place today, 12 May, at the Historic Building’s Paranymph Hall. The ceremony honoured the career of one of the world’s pioneers in the study of musical emotions, speech and auditory cognition.
News
|
Institutional
12/05/2025
“Probably, if I were to be put in an MRI machine now, my dopaminergic activation would be through the roof”. With these words — precise and ironic — the neuroscientist Robert J. Zatorre began his speech at the honorary doctorate conferment ceremony by the University of Barcelona, which took place today, 12 May, at the Historic Building’s Paranymph Hall. The ceremony honoured the career of one of the world’s pioneers in the study of musical emotions, speech and auditory cognition.
The ceremony was chaired by the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia, and included the participation of the president of the Board of Trustees, Joan Corominas, and the vice-rector for Students and University Life, Marta Ferrer, and included the award ceremony for the extraordinary bachelor’s degree awards for the 2022-2023 academic year.
The sponsor of the event, Josep Marco, professor at the Faculty of Psychology praised the figure of Zatorre and highlighted his decisive contribution to the neuroscience of music: “He was one of the first to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging to the study of auditory processing and music, and his findings opened the path to a new way of understanding the relationship between the brain and music”.
He also highlighted the originality of his scientific questions: “Robert Zatorre has not only studied music, he has studied the pleasure of music”, and stressed his capacity for impact: “One of his most spectacular results is to have shown that music can activate the same brain system as cocaine or sex".
Zatorre, born in Buenos Aires and trained at Boston and Brown, has been a foundational figure in the use of neuroimaging to study music and speech. He has shown that music activates brain reward circuits, described the lateralization of auditory processing and led the study of phenomena such as musical anhedonia. In addition, he co-directed the BRAMS (International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research) in Montreal and mentored young researchers who are now leading laboratories around the world.
This researcher has maintained a sustained collaboration with the UB since 2011, when he spent a sabbatical stay in the research group on Cognition and Brain Plasticity. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), a worldwide reference tool in the psychology of music, emerged from this period. In his speech, Zatorre recalled that this questionnaire is named after Barcelona “because everyone likes Barcelona”.
Zatorre also spoke of the UB’s collaborations with hospitals and cultural institutions in the city, as well as the research carried out during the pandemic on the use of music to tackle depression and isolation. To close his speech, he defended the value of shared knowledge: “Science, in its ideal, is a way of thinking that transcends differences and seeks what unites us”.
The sponsor of the event, Josep Marco, professor at the Faculty of Psychology praised the figure of Zatorre and highlighted his decisive contribution to the neuroscience of music: “He was one of the first to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging to the study of auditory processing and music, and his findings opened the path to a new way of understanding the relationship between the brain and music”.
He also highlighted the originality of his scientific questions: “Robert Zatorre has not only studied music, he has studied the pleasure of music”, and stressed his capacity for impact: “One of his most spectacular results is to have shown that music can activate the same brain system as cocaine or sex".
Zatorre, born in Buenos Aires and trained at Boston and Brown, has been a foundational figure in the use of neuroimaging to study music and speech. He has shown that music activates brain reward circuits, described the lateralization of auditory processing and led the study of phenomena such as musical anhedonia. In addition, he co-directed the BRAMS (International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research) in Montreal and mentored young researchers who are now leading laboratories around the world.
This researcher has maintained a sustained collaboration with the UB since 2011, when he spent a sabbatical stay in the research group on Cognition and Brain Plasticity. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ), a worldwide reference tool in the psychology of music, emerged from this period. In his speech, Zatorre recalled that this questionnaire is named after Barcelona “because everyone likes Barcelona”.
Zatorre also spoke of the UB’s collaborations with hospitals and cultural institutions in the city, as well as the research carried out during the pandemic on the use of music to tackle depression and isolation. To close his speech, he defended the value of shared knowledge: “Science, in its ideal, is a way of thinking that transcends differences and seeks what unites us”.
El Paranimf ha acollit una cerimònia solemne que reconeix el valor científic i humà de la seva recerca sobre la música, el llenguatge i la ment.
The president of the Board of Trustees, Joan Corominas, noted that “Zatorre is a key figure in neuroscience, and his research allows us to better understand how the brain works when we speak, listen to music and when we enjoy it”. He thanked the work and effort of the awarded students, and encouraged them to “continue towards excellence”.
At the end of the event, Rector Joan Guàrdia highlighted the historical vocation of the UB to recognize and defend excellence “just as the UB has done for almost six centuries, resisting historical and social circumstances that have sometimes been very adverse”. He stated that "”atorre represents the value of commitment to science" and defended research as an institutional duty: “We carry out research because it is our commitment to making the world a better place. And we have been doing this for almost 600 years”.
Regarding to the awarded students, he remarked that “they represent the spearhead of our excellence and our commitment in the face of one of the most dramatic times we are living through”. And he concluded with a resounding message: “In the face of the attacks of darkness and lies, we oppose the work of science. Where there is darkness, the answer is science and rigour. This institution is a public commitment that will not disappear”.
After the ceremony, the extraordinary bachelor’s degree awards were presented, and the UB Choir closed the ceremony with the Gaudeamus igitur. With this award, Robert J. Zatorre joins the UB’s Doctors’ Senate as a figure who represents scientific excellence and the ability to investigate what defines us as humans. “Every musical act is a recapitulation of the past and a prediction of the future”, he said. And also a — scientific and emotional —way of understanding life.
At the end of the event, Rector Joan Guàrdia highlighted the historical vocation of the UB to recognize and defend excellence “just as the UB has done for almost six centuries, resisting historical and social circumstances that have sometimes been very adverse”. He stated that "”atorre represents the value of commitment to science" and defended research as an institutional duty: “We carry out research because it is our commitment to making the world a better place. And we have been doing this for almost 600 years”.
Regarding to the awarded students, he remarked that “they represent the spearhead of our excellence and our commitment in the face of one of the most dramatic times we are living through”. And he concluded with a resounding message: “In the face of the attacks of darkness and lies, we oppose the work of science. Where there is darkness, the answer is science and rigour. This institution is a public commitment that will not disappear”.
After the ceremony, the extraordinary bachelor’s degree awards were presented, and the UB Choir closed the ceremony with the Gaudeamus igitur. With this award, Robert J. Zatorre joins the UB’s Doctors’ Senate as a figure who represents scientific excellence and the ability to investigate what defines us as humans. “Every musical act is a recapitulation of the past and a prediction of the future”, he said. And also a — scientific and emotional —way of understanding life.
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Conferment of an honorary doctorate degree to Robert J. Zatorre.
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