I joined the University of Bergen in 2015 as Professor of Biological, Medical and Music Psychology through the national Toppforsk programme. My training spans psychology, sociology and music performance, with a PhD and Habilitation from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. Before Bergen I held professorships at the University of Sussex and the Free University of Berlin’s “Languages of Emotion” cluster.

My research uses music as a model system to explore fundamental principles of human cognition and emotion and their underlying brain mechanisms. We map how the brain processes musical structure and how music influences emotional networks, integrating methods from neuroscience, psychology, neurology and psychiatry. Our group also translates these insights into practice, for example through the Alzheimer’s and Music Therapy (ALMUTH) trial, which evaluates music and physical activity interventions for people with Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline. Other projects explore music’s role in pain reduction, stress modulation, substance use disorders and Parkinson’s disease.

Theoretically, we contribute to debates on the brain as a prediction engine. By studying how musical tension and release shape expectations and reward, we collaborate with colleagues such as Karl Friston to understand how the brain updates internal models. I have authored several books for both scientific and general audiences, including Brain and Music, Good Vibrations and Die dunkle Seite des Gehirns, and I am committed to public engagement. 

My work has contributed to establishing a new scientific framework for understanding music's profound effects on the human brain, articulated in publications in journals such as Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Neuron, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Nature Neuroscience.  

Our Brain and Music Group welcomes enquiries from students and collaborators interested in the neuroscience of music, emotion and health. 

If you are interested in doing a B.Sc. or M.Sc. thesis in my group please click on the tab to the right. 

More on his research group

Popular science books

Good Vibrations: Unlocking the Healing Power of Music (Cambridge University Press, 2025) summarises the latest science on how music shapes our brains, emotions and health, with practical guidance for everyday life. A Norwegian edition, Gode Vibrasjoner, is also available, as well as the German edition Good Vibrations: Die heilende Kraft der Musik, and translations in several other languages. Die dunkle Seite des Gehirns (2022) explores how unconscious processes influence our thoughts and offers strategies for overcoming negative patterns. 

Talks, podcasts and media

I regularly discuss music and health in lectures, media interviews and podcasts. Recent highlights include Inside a musician's brain, a Bergen Philharmonic session with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, an appearance in the NRK TV series Demenskoret, as well as interviews for NRK radio and Norwegian newspapers. 

Below is a selection of podcast appearances over the past 3 years. 

• The New Science of Music as Medicine

  Apple Podcasts – Conversation about Good Vibrations and evidence for music’s therapeutic effects.

• Wie uns Musik hilft, gesünder und glücklicher zu leben (Podcast)

  SPIEGEL Gesundheit – How music supports well-being and health.

• Musik und mentale Gesundheit

  ZDFheute – Feature on music’s benefits for mental health.

• Musik & Gesundheit (Interview)

  ARD Audiothek – Public radio conversation on therapeutic mechanisms.

• Musik als Lebensretter – Auszeit für das Gehirn

  Deutschlandfunk Kultur – On recovery, stress regulation and music.

• Musik und Fragen zur Person

  Deutschlandfunk – Long-form interview on biography and research.

• Music’s healing mechanisms

  Spotify – Discussion of neural and physiological pathways.

• Negative Gedanken: Wie wir das Unterbewusstsein überlisten

  Antenne / SPIEGEL – Practical strategies for everyday mental health.

• Stress durch Gedanken – warum Abschalten wichtig ist

  RTL+ Podcast – How to regulate stress and rumination.

• Neustart: Musik hören beim Lernen

  detektor.fm – When (and when not) music helps learning.

• MDR KLASSIK Gespräch

  MDR KLASSIK – Music, longevity and health.

• hr2 Doppelkopf – Musik kann therapeutisch genutzt werden

  hr2 kultur – Interview on clinical and everyday applications.

• Music, Brain & Health

  YouTube – Public lecture / interview highlights.

• Music & Emotion – mechanisms

  YouTube – Overview of emotional processing of music.

• Music, health and the brain

  YouTube – Interview on practical impacts of music on health.

• Music, language & the brain

  YouTube – Conversation on shared and distinct brain mechanisms.

• SR Mediathek Feature

  Saarländischer Rundfunk – Regional radio piece on music & health.

• UNSERDING Mediathek

  SR / UNSERDING – Youth-oriented discussion of music and mood.

• Mensch, Musiker – Interview

  podcast.de – Career path, research and practice.

• Mensch, Musiker (Podigee)

  Podigee – Episode page / alternate feed.

• Megahertz – Interview

  Podigee – Technology, creativity and emotion in music.

• Wie wirkt Musik heilsam?

  podcast.de – What happens in brain and body during music.

• Die heilsame Kraft der Musik

  Apple Podcasts – German-language discussion of music’s healing power.

• Straßenkritik: Good Vibrations

  Deutschlandfunk Kultur – Street review of the book.

• SR2 Podcast

  SR2 – Feature/podcast on music and health.

• turi2 Hörtipp

  turi2 – Media pointer to interview on music and wellbeing.

• Snipd: Appearance index

  Snipd – Collection of podcast highlights and bookmarks.

• IMDb entry

  IMDb – Indexed media appearance.

Selected publications

• Cheung, V. K., Harrison, P. M., Meyer, L., Pearce, M. T., Haynes, J. D., & Koelsch, S. (2019). Uncertainty and surprise jointly predict musical pleasure and Amygdala, Hippocampus, and auditory cortex activity. Current Biology, 29(23), 4084-4092.
• Koelsch, S. (2014). Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(3), 170-180.
• Koelsch, S., Vuust, P., & Friston, K. (2019). Predictive processes and the peculiar case of music. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(1), 63-77.
• Koelsch, S., Skouras, S., & Lohmann, G. (2018). The auditory cortex hosts network nodes influential for emotion processing: An fMRI study on music-evoked fear and joy. PloS one, 13(1), e0190057.
• Hohmann, L., Bradt, J., Stegemann, T., & Koelsch, S. (2017). Effects of music therapy and music-based interventions in the treatment of substance use disorders: A systematic review. PloS one, 12(11), e0187363.
• Taruffi, L., Pehrs, C., Skouras, S., & Koelsch, S. (2017). Effects of sad and happy music on mind-wandering and the default mode network. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-10.
• Pehrs, C., Zaki, J., Schlochtermeier, L. H., Jacobs, A. M., Kuchinke, L., & Koelsch, S. (2017). The temporal pole top-down modulates the ventral visual stream during social cognition. Cerebral Cortex, 27(1), 777-792.
• Koelsch, S., Boehlig, A., Hohenadel, M., Nitsche, I., Bauer, K., & Sack, U. (2016). The impact of acute stress on hormones and cytokines, and how their recovery is affected by music-evoked positive mood. Scientific reports, 6, 23008.
• Koelsch, S., Busch, T., Jentschke, S., & Rohrmeier, M. (2016). Under the hood of statistical learning: A statistical MMN reflects the magnitude of transitional probabilities in auditory sequences. Scientific reports, 6, 19741.
• Lehne, M., Rohrmeier, M., & Koelsch, S. (2014). Tension-related activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala: an fMRI study with music. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(10), 1515-1523.

Publication list in google.scholar

Our current projects include: 

Therapeutic effects of music and physical activity on the brains of individuals with, or at risk for, Alzheimer's disease. 

We also carry out MRI-studies (e.g. on emotions, or on the effects of emotions on thoughts, often using music as experimental stimulus), and EEG studies (e.g. on predictive coding).