A re-evaluation of approaches to understanding musicality in autism

Part of the Music Research Seminar Series 2025-26

Speaker: Pamela Heaton – Goldsmiths, University of London

Location: School of Music Lecture Theatre 2

• This will be a hybrid event. The guest speaker will be present with us in the School of Music, and colleagues and other guests are encouraged to join us there. But if you are unable to do so then please consider joining us via Teams.
• No booking is required. Those wishing to attend online should contact series convenor Dr Ellis Jones (e.n.jones@leeds.ac.uk).

Empirical approaches to understanding musical strengths in autism have been motivated by domain-general cognitive models. This approach fails to acknowledge the uniquely complex nature of musical traits and reflects a pathologizing conceptualisation of autism. The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of studies documenting the way autistic people experience and utilise music in their everyday lives, and this work provides an important new starting point for understanding musical talent in autism. In my talk I will focus on recent work exploring the development of musical skills in autistic performers and composers with the aim of stimulating debate around methodological approaches to studying musicality in neurodiverse and neurotypical populations.

Pamela Heaton is Professor emerita at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Honorary Visiting research Professor at the Royal Northern College of Music. Her research interests are multidisciplinary, spanning human development and music psychology, and her early study of autism and music was awarded the British Psychological Society prize for outstanding doctoral research contributions to Psychology. During her career she forged research collaborations with leading researchers across Europe and North America and has managed UK based and multinational research projects funded by the ESRC and the EU. She is frequently invited to speak at conferences and research events, including for example, at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, the Sante Fe chamber music festival and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Her recent book on the Psychology of Music and Autism documents the first-person accounts of autistic musicians and reflects the increasing influence of the Neurodiversity Movement on her research.