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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the note-able-differences dept.

Researchers have performed brain scans on Sting (aka Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE) in order to "make maps of how Sting's brain organizes music":

What does the 1960s Beatles hit "Girl" have in common with Astor Piazzolla's evocative tango composition "Libertango"? Probably not much, to the casual listener. But in the mind of one famously eclectic singer-songwriter, the two songs are highly similar. That's one of the surprising findings of an unusual neuroscience study based on brain scans of the musician Sting.

The paper, published in the journal Neurocase, uses recently developed imaging-analysis techniques to provide a window into the mind of a masterful musician. It also represents an approach that could offer insights into how gifted individuals find connections between seemingly disparate thoughts or sounds, in fields ranging from arts to politics or science.

"These state-of the-art techniques really allowed us to make maps of how Sting's brain organizes music," says lead author Daniel Levitin, a cognitive psychologist at McGill University. "That's important because at the heart of great musicianship is the ability to manipulate in one's mind rich representations of the desired soundscape."

[...] This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The real trick involves imprinting Sting's brain patterns on a computer used to conquer Earth. Next on the list... Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian.

Measuring the representational space of music with fMRI: a case study with Sting (DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2016.1216572)


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  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:49AM

    by RamiK (1813) on Wednesday August 17 2016, @09:49AM (#389058)

    In response to

    Next on the list... Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian.

    .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3VLxepEBfg [youtube.com]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOmUw6Y_z6I [youtube.com]

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:28AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2016, @10:28AM (#389062)

    Kim Kardashian? Thought that one was already done, and even modeled with an AI algorithm: 10: A = RND(0); GOTO 10

    • (Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:29PM

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Wednesday August 17 2016, @02:29PM (#389126) Journal

      Sting? The methodology is attention getting, but this isn't science!

      Sting's alright, you know. But I'm personal friends with many musicians who are of a creative and technical calibre that easily dwarf the fellow. Actually, if you want pop musicians? Elvis Costello dwarfs Sting is these areas. Were he still alive, Prince would have been off-the-chart.

      But that's not really the argument.

      A sample size of one tells you nothing.

      --
      You're betting on the pantomime horse...
      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday August 17 2016, @07:13PM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday August 17 2016, @07:13PM (#389253) Homepage

        Not only that, but there are plenty of commonalities in the driving force of the song that even a subhuman retard could determine.

        The backbone of both songs are the jazzy (probably various forms of sevenths) descending minor chord progressions played by the rhythm instrument, with all other instrumentation (including backing vocals) serving as mere accents.

        And that's just from a few seconds of listening.

        Sting, with his "genius" also believes that this [youtube.com] sounds like this [youtube.com] and that this [youtube.com] sounds like this [youtube.com].

        Far out! Is he some kind of John Nash genius motherfucker?!

        p.s. Sting's ego is already large enough, it does not need any further inflating.