Page 18 - ChildArt_Oct-Dec 2020_ABCDstudy

Scientist Profile

John Iversen

You’re a lifelong percussionist. How did you get interested in drums? Do you still play regularly?

They say I was playing the pots and pans before I could walk. Some other fortunate things encouraged me:
I had two uncles who were drummers, an elementary school with a serious instrumental music program
starting in first grade, and understanding parents. It went both ways: My drum mentor fed my scientific side
and turned me on to computers and electronics. I played a drum set for many years, and began Japanese
Taiko drumming (a dynamic, athletic form of group drumming performance) while I was in graduate school
in Boston. Later, I co-founded a Taiko group in San Diego, and it’s still going strong. Recently, I’ve returned
to the drum set, jamming with a close guitarist friend (who’s also a music neuroscientist). Even when I’m not
playing, I’m pretty tuned into the rhythms all around us.

Research shows that music and rhythm can change the brain and have positive effects on mental
health. Is this something you’ve noticed in your own experience as a
drummer?
My own drumming experience has certainly motivated many of the scientific
questions I’m passionate about, such as how the brain perceives and makes
rhythms, and how this relates to language and attention skills. Personally,
drumming has been a profoundly positive part of my life. There’s nothing like the
connection of making music with other people and sharing our energy with an
audience. Drumming is physical; it can require such a focus that there’s no way to
hang on to negative emotions. I like to say it helped get me through grad school in
one piece!

It’s pretty cool that you get to merge your interests in music and the brain.
What made you decide to pursue a professional career in neuroscience
rather than, say, percussion?
I couldn’t agree more! It turns out that a lot of scientists studying music and the
brain, including Tim Brown, my coauthor in this issue, have a background in music.
We’re very fortunate to have found a way to combine our passions. Why did I take
the path I did? I realized I didn’t have the chops to be a professional drummer, and as a teenager, I reasoned
that it was more possible to be a scientist with a lifelong hobby of music than the reverse. I was drawn to
studying the brain by the hope that someday I’d do research relevant to people’s lives. I studied physics and
then neuroscience, focusing on how the brain changes after a person loses their hearing. Only later, after
I got my Ph.D., did I bring my interests in the brain and rhythms back together. The great news is that the
study of music, the brain, health, and education is growing, thanks to support from the National Institutes
of Health, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Science Foundation.

By Elizabeth Hoffman, Ph.D.
Scientific Program Manager
Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study
Division of Extramural Research
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health