Dr Manuel Anglada-Tort

Staff details

Position

Lecturer

Department

Psychology

Email

m.angladatort (@gold.ac.uk)

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

Manu studies how psychology and culture shape the ways people create and experience music, aesthetics, and the arts.

Manu is a Lecturer in Psychology and Co-Director of the MSc in Music, Mind and Brain. He is interested in understanding the psychological and cultural foundations of complex human behaviours such as music and art, and the role they play in society and cultural evolution. His research combines computational methods with innovative psychological experiments to study how such behaviours emerge through the interplay of human cognition, social interaction, and cultural transmission.

For example, see his research on how cultural transmission shapes the evolution of human song, read a recent study about the influence of weather conditions on music success in the UK, or check out REPP, a Python package to run high-precision synchronisation studies over the internet, such as tapping to the beat of music.

Teaching and supervision

Research interests

Manu’s research focuses on auditory and music perception, aesthetic science, creativity, and the cultural evolution of music and the arts. His work is highly interdisciplinary, combining methods from cross-cultural psychology, neuroscience, machine learning, computational music cognition, corpus analysis, large-scale online experiments, and big data. He is Co-Director of Music, Mind and Brain Group, and member of our Science of the Creative and Performing Arts Group. Key areas of interest are listed below:

Auditory perception
Music cognition
Aesthetic science
Cultural evolution
Creativity
Cross-cultural research
Music, technology, and industry
MIR, corpus analysis, and big data

Featured publications

2023: Large-scale iterated singing experiments reveal oral transmission mechanisms underlying music evolution
Current Biology

2023: Here comes the sun: music features of popular songs reflect prevailing weather conditions
Royal Society Open Science

2022: Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity
Nature Human Behaviour

REPP: A robust cross-platform solution for online sensorimotor synchronization experiments
Behavior Research Methods

I’ve heard that brand before: the role of music recognition on consumer choice
International Journal of Advertising

Publications and research outputs

Article

Musical rhythm abilities and risk for developmental speech-language problems and disorders: epidemiological and polygenic associations Nayak, Srishti; Ladanyi, Eniko; Eising, Else; Mekki, Yasmina; Nitin, Rachana; Bush, Catherine T.; Gustavson, Daniel E.; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Lancaster, Hope S.; Mosing, Miriam A.; +5 more...Ullén, Fredrik; Magne, Cyrille L.; Fisher, Simon E.; Jacoby, Nori; and Gordon, Reyna L.. 2025. Musical rhythm abilities and risk for developmental speech-language problems and disorders: epidemiological and polygenic associations. Nature Communications, 16(1), 8355. ISSN 2041-1723
The effect of visual recognition on listener choices when searching for music in playlists. Steffens, Jochen; and Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo . 2025. The effect of visual recognition on listener choices when searching for music in playlists. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 19(4), pp. 587-596. ISSN 1931-3896
Unsettled Times: Music Discovery Reveals Divergent Cultural Responses to War Lee, Harin; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Sobchuk, Oleg; van Rijn, Pol; Schönwiesner, Marc; Tchernichovski, Ofer; Park, Minsu; and Jacoby, Nori. 2025. Unsettled Times: Music Discovery Reveals Divergent Cultural Responses to War. PsyArXiv Preprints,

The dynamics of collective creativity in human-ai social networks Shiiku, Shota; Marjieh, Raja; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; and Jacoby, Nori. 2025. The dynamics of collective creativity in human-ai social networks. arXiv,
Characterizing the Interaction of Cultural Evolution Mechanisms in Experimental Social Networks Marjieh, Raja; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Griffiths, Thomas L; and Jacoby, Nori. 2025. Characterizing the Interaction of Cultural Evolution Mechanisms in Experimental Social Networks. arXiv,
Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report Ozaki, Yuto; Tierney, Adam; Pfordresher, Peter Q.; McBride, John M.; Benetos, Emmanouil; Proutskova, Polina; Chiba, Gakuto; Liu, Fang; Jacoby, Nori; Purdy, Suzanne C.; +65 more...Opondo, Patricia; Fitch, W. Tecumseh; Hegde, Shantala; Rocamora, Martín; Thorne, Rob; Nweke, Florence; Sadaphal, Dhwani P.; Sadaphal, Parimal M.; Hadavi, Shafagh; Fujii, Shinya; Choo, Sangbuem; Naruse, Marin; Ehara, Utae; Sy, Latyr; Parselelo, Mark Lenini; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Hansen, Niels Chr.; Haiduk, Felix; Færøvik, Ulvhild; Magalhães, Violeta; Krzyżanowski, Wojciech; Shcherbakova, Olena; Hereld, Diana; Barbosa, Brenda Suyanne; Varella, Marco Antonio Correa; van Tongeren, Mark; Dessiatnitchenko, Polina; Zar, Su Zar; El Kahla, Iyadh; Muslu, Olcay; Troy, Jakelin; Lomsadze, Teona; Kurdova, Dilyana; Tsope, Cristiano; Fredriksson, Daniel; Arabadjiev, Aleksandar; Sarbah, Jehoshaphat Philip; Arhine, Adwoa; Meachair, Tadhg Ó; Silva-Zurita, Javier; Soto-Silva, Ignacio; Millalonco, Neddiel Elcie Muñoz; Ambrazevičius, Rytis; Loui, Psyche; Ravignani, Andrea; Jadoul, Yannick; Larrouy-Maestri, Pauline; Bruder, Camila; Teyxokawa, Tutushamum Puri; Kuikuro, Urise; Natsitsabui, Rogerdison; Sagarzazu, Nerea Bello; Raviv, Limor; Zeng, Minyu; Varnosfaderani, Shahaboddin Dabaghi; Gómez-Cañón, Juan Sebastián; Kolff, Kayla; der Nederlanden, Christina Vanden Bosch; Chhatwal, Meyha; David, Ryan Mark; Setiawan, I. Putu Gede; Lekakul, Great; Borsan, Vanessa Nina; Nguqu, Nozuko; and Savage, Patrick E.. 2024. Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report. Science Advances, 10(20), eadm9797. ISSN 2375-2548
Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries Jacoby, Nori; Polak, Rainer; Grahn, Jessica A.; Cameron, Daniel J.; Lee, Kyung Myun; Godoy, Ricardo; Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Huanca, Tomás; Thalwitzer, Timon; Doumbia, Noumouké; +24 more...Goldberg, Daniel; Margulis, Elizabeth H.; Wong, Patrick C. M.; Jure, Luis; Rocamora, Martín; Fujii, Shinya; Savage, Patrick E.; Ajimi, Jun; Konno, Rei; Oishi, Sho; Jakubowski, Kelly; Holzapfel, Andre; Mungan, Esra; Kaya, Ece; Rao, Preeti; Rohit, Mattur A.; Alladi, Suvarna; Tarr, Bronwyn; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Harrison, Peter M. C.; McPherson, Malinda J.; Dolan, Sophie; Durango, Alex; and McDermott, Josh H.. 2024. Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries. Nature Human Behaviour, 8(5), pp. 846-877. ISSN 2397-3374
Inducing and disrupting flow during music performance Zielke, Julia; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; and Berger, Jonathan. 2023. Inducing and disrupting flow during music performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1187153. ISSN 1664-1078
Here comes the sun: music features of popular songs reflect prevailing weather conditions Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Lee, Harin; Krause, Amanda E.; and North, Adrian C.. 2023. Here comes the sun: music features of popular songs reflect prevailing weather conditions. Royal Society Open Science, 10(5), 221443. ISSN 2054-5703
The Behavioural Economics of Music: Systematic review and future directions Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Masters, Nikhil; Steffens, Jochen; North, Adrian; and Müllensiefen, Daniel . 2023. The Behavioural Economics of Music: Systematic review and future directions. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76(5), pp. 1177-1194. ISSN 1747-0218
Large-scale iterated singing experiments reveal oral transmission mechanisms underlying music evolution Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Harrison, Peter M.C.; Lee, Harin; and Jacoby, Nori. 2023. Large-scale iterated singing experiments reveal oral transmission mechanisms underlying music evolution. Current Biology, 33(8), 1472-1486.e12. ISSN 0960-9822
REPP: A robust cross-platform solution for online sensorimotor synchronization experiments Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Harrison, Peter M. C.; and Jacoby, Nori. 2022. REPP: A robust cross-platform solution for online sensorimotor synchronization experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 54(5), pp. 2271-2285. ISSN 1554-3528
Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity Niarchou, Maria; Gustavson, Daniel E.; Sathirapongsasuti, J. Fah; Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Eising, Else; Bell, Eamonn; McArthur, Evonne; Straub, Peter; Aslibekyan, Stella; Auton, Adam; +44 more...Bell, Robert K.; Bryc, Katarzyna; Clark, Sarah K.; Elson, Sarah L.; Fletez-Brant, Kipper; Fontanillas, Pierre; Furlotte, Nicholas A.; Gandhi, Pooja M.; Heilbron, Karl; Hicks, Barry; Huber, Karen E.; Jewett, Ethan M.; Jiang, Yunxuan; Kleinman, Aaron; Lin, Keng-Han; Litterman, Nadia K.; McCreight, Jey C.; McIntyre, Matthew H.; McManus, Kimberly F.; Mountain, Joanna L.; Mozaffari, Sahar V.; Nandakumar, Priyanka; Noblin, Elizabeth S.; Northover, Carrie A. M.; O’Connell, Jared; Pitts, Steven J.; Poznik, G. David; Shastri, Anjali J.; Shelton, Janie F.; Shringarpure, Suyash; Tian, Chao; Tung, Joyce Y.; Tunney, Robert J.; Vacic, Vladimir; Wang, Xin; McAuley, J. Devin; Capra, John A.; Ullén, Fredrik; Creanza, Nicole; Mosing, Miriam A.; Hinds, David A.; Davis, Lea K.; Jacoby, Nori; and Gordon, Reyna L.. 2022. Genome-wide association study of musical beat synchronization demonstrates high polygenicity. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(9), pp. 1292-1309. ISSN 2397-3374
What counts as aesthetics in science? A bibliometric analysis and visualization of the scientific literature from 1970 to 2018. Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; and Skov, Martin. 2022. What counts as aesthetics in science? A bibliometric analysis and visualization of the scientific literature from 1970 to 2018. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 16(3), pp. 553-568. ISSN 1931-3896
I’ve heard that brand before: the role of music recognition on consumer choice Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Schofield, Kerry; Trahan, Tabitha ; and Müllensiefen, Daniel . 2022. I’ve heard that brand before: the role of music recognition on consumer choice. International Journal of Advertising, 41(8), pp. 1567-1587. ISSN 0265-0487
Popular music lyrics and musicians’ gender over time: A computational approach Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Krause, Amanda E; and North, Adrian C. 2021. Popular music lyrics and musicians’ gender over time: A computational approach. Psychology of Music, 49(3), pp. 426-444. ISSN 0305-7356
The Impact of Source Effects on the Evaluation of Music for Advertising: Are there Differences in How Advertising Professionals and Consumers Judge Music? Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Keller, Steve; Steffens, Jochen; and Müllensiefen, Daniel . 2020. The Impact of Source Effects on the Evaluation of Music for Advertising: Are there Differences in How Advertising Professionals and Consumers Judge Music? Journal of Advertising Research, 60(2), pp. 1-15. ISSN 0021-8499
Names and Titles Matter: The Impact of Linguistic Fluency and the Affect Heuristic on Aesthetic and Value Judgements of Music Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Steffens, Jochen; and Müllensiefen, Daniel . 2019. Names and Titles Matter: The Impact of Linguistic Fluency and the Affect Heuristic on Aesthetic and Value Judgements of Music. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13(3), pp. 277-292. ISSN 1931-3896
Visualizing Music Psychology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Psychology of Music, Music Perception, and Musicae Scientiae from 1973 to 2017 Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; and Sanfilippo, Katie Rose M . 2019. Visualizing Music Psychology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Psychology of Music, Music Perception, and Musicae Scientiae from 1973 to 2017. Music & Science, 2, ISSN 2059-2043
The Busking Experiment: A Field Study Measuring Behavioural Responses to Street Music Performances Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Thueringer, Heather; and Omigie, Diana . 2019. The Busking Experiment: A Field Study Measuring Behavioural Responses to Street Music Performances. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 29(1), pp. 46-55. ISSN 0275-3987
False memories in music listening: exploring the misinformation effect and individual difference factors in auditory memory Anglada-Tort, Manuel ORCID logo ; Baker, Tom ; and Müllensiefen, Daniel . 2018. False memories in music listening: exploring the misinformation effect and individual difference factors in auditory memory. Memory, ISSN 0965-8211

Media engagements

2023: Music and the mind: a profile of Dr Manuel Anglada Tort
University of Oxford

2023: Have your say: Does the weather influence the music you listen to?
BBC News

2024: Music Evolution & Empirical Aesthetics
Multivereses podcast

Conferences and talks

2024: Bridging between micro and macro-level cultural dynamics of music: Advanced online experiments and big data
Whitehead Lecture, Goldsmiths, University of London

2023: Studying the effect of oral transmission on music evolution through online singing experiments
Oxford Seminar, University of Oxford

2023: Studying cultural dynamics at scale through human singing experiments: Variation, fitness, and inheritance
Networks and Cognition, Princeton University