Tsai, Chen-Gia Associate professor Graduate Institute of Musicology Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences National Taiwan University, Taiwan

Research Interests

Biomusicology, neuroesthetics, arts and medicine, affective science, music acoustics, Xiqu

Books

Tsai, C.G.*, & Chen, R.S. (2017). Structures and Emotions in Chinese Sentimental Ballads: A Perspective of Cognitive Psychology (in Chinese). Taipei: Faces Publishing LTD.

Tsai, C.G. (2013). The Cognitive Psychology of Music (in Chinese). Taipei: NTU Press.

Tsai, C.G. (2011). Alternative Watching/Listening: Brain Diseases and Voice Disorders in Performing Arts (in Chinese). Taipei: NTU Press.

Journal Articles

Tsai, C.G.* Exploring the relationship between music, lexical tones, and intonations of southern min and mandarin Chinese from a cognitive neuroscience perspective (in Chinese). Research in Applied Psychology. (accepted)

Tsai, C.G.* (2024). Polyphony, uncertainty, and exploration in sonata form: Commentary on De Souza, Dvorsky, and Oyon. Empirical Musicology Review, 19(2), 111-113. [ESCI, IF=0.6]

Li, C.W., & Tsai, C.G.* (2024). The presence of drum and bass modulates responses in the auditory dorsal pathway and mirror-related regions to pop songs. Neuroscience, 562, 24-32. [SCI, IF=2.9]

Tsai, C.G.* (2024). Predictive processing within music form: Analysis of uncertainty and surprise in different sections of sonata form. Music & Science, 7.

Tsai, C.G.* (2024). The influence of Xiqu’s percussion music on audience psychology: from cognitive schemas to ‘addiction’ (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 40, 75-100.

Tsai, C.G.* (2024). Anticipating the main theme: A model for understanding prospective memory and reward learning in sonata-form listening. Musicae Scientiae, 28(3), 436-450. [SSCI, IF=2.2]

Li, C.W., & Tsai, C.G.* (2024). Motivated cognitive control during cued anticipation and receipt of unfamiliar musical themes: an fMRI study. Neuropsychologia, 194, 108778. [SCI/SSCI, IF=3.054]

Tsai, C.G.* (2023). The structure and function of mind-wandering in Chinese regulated verse (律詩). Humanities, 12(4): 87. [IF=0.3]

Tsai, C.G., Fu, Y.F. &, Li, C.W.* (2023). Prediction errors arising from switches between major and minor modes in music: An fMRI study. Brain and Cognition, 169, 105987. [SCI & SSCI, IF=2.682]

Tsai, C.G.* (2023). On the relationship between Chinese lyrical tradition and the brain’s default mode network (in Chinese). Sun Yat Sen Journal of Humanities, 54, 91-120.

Li, C.W., & Tsai, C.G.* (2022). Attention control and audiomotor processes underlying anticipation of musical themes while listening to familiar sonata-form pieces. Brain Sciences, 12(2), 261. [SCI, IF=3.333]

Tsai, C.G.* (2021). Cognitive control in agents: on the importance of supplementary motor area in the brain for music activities (in Chinese). Journal of Music Research, 34, 1-28.

Li, C.W., Guo, F.Y., Tsai, C.G.* (2021). Predictive processing, cognitive control, and tonality stability of music: an fMRI study of chromatic harmony. Brain and Cognition, 151, 105751. [SCI & SSCI, IF=2.821]

Tsai, C.G., & Li, C.W.* (2019). Is it speech or song? Effect of melody priming on pitch perception of modified Mandarin speech. Brain Sciences, 9(10), 286. [SCI, IF=3.332]

Li, C.W., Cheng, T.H., & Tsai, C.G.* (2019). Music enhances activity in the hypothalamus, brainstem, and anterior cerebellum during script-driven imagery of affective scenes. Neuropsychologia, 133, 107073. [SCI/SSCI, IF=2.889]

Tsai, C.G.* (2019). From inner imitation to information integration: revisiting the mechanisms underlying emotion induction via music (in Chinese). Arts Review, 37, 1-49.

Tsai, C.G., & Li, C.W.* (2019). Increased activation in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and temporal pole during tonality changes in music. Neuroscience Letters, 696: 162-167. [SCI, IF=2.159]

Tsai, C.G. (2018). The psychology of musical creativity: the self, executive control, and generation of creative ideas (in Chinese). Guandu Music Journal, 27, 33-52.

Tsai, C.G., Chou T.L., & Li, C.W.* (2018). Roles of posterior parietal and dorsal premotor cortices in relative pitch processing: comparing musical intervals to lexical tones. Neuropsychologia, 119, 118-127. [SCI, IF=2.888]

Tsai, C.G., Du, W., & Chen, C.L.* (2017). Influence of literature music on the museum visitor experience: a case study of the Laiho Memorial Museum (in Chinese). Museology Quarterly, 31(3), 5-29.

Tsai, C.G., Li, C.W., Yeh, C.H., Chen, R.S., & Lin, Y.S.* (2017). Why do mandarin popular songs usually deal with break-ups? The therapeutic potential of sentimental ballads (in Chinese). Indigenous Psychological Research in Chinese Societies, 47, 371-420. [TSSCI]

Wu, M.T., & Tsai, C.G.* (2017). Emotional effects of Teresa Teng’s songs in Taiwanese healthy and disabled older adults (in Chinese). Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Medicine, 4, 119-138.

Tsai, C.G.*, & Hsia, L.T. (2107). Musical features and theatrical uses of Jin-La-Man-Chang rhythmic mode in Xiqu (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 25, 105-128.

Wen, Y.C., & Tsai, C.G.* (2017). The effect of harmonization on cortical magnetic responses evoked by music of rapidly changing tonalities. Psychology of Music, 45(1), 22-35. [SSCI, IF=2.173]

Cheng, T.H., & Tsai, C.G.* (2016). Female listeners’ autonomic responses to dramatic shifts between loud and soft music/sound passages: a study of heavy metal songs. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 182. [SSCI, IF=2.560]

Tsai, Y.H., & Tsai, C.G.* (2016). Emotional effects of the chorus scenes in musicals on audience: a study on Les Misérables and Chicago (in Chinese). Collected Papers on Arts Research, 25, 147-166.

Li, C.W., Chen, J.H., & Tsai, C.G.* (2015). Listening to music in a risk-reward context: the roles of the temporoparietal junction and the orbitofrontal/insular cortices in reward-anticipation, reward-gain, and reward-loss. Brain Research, 1629, 160-170. [SCI, IF=2.988]

Chen, C.L., & Tsai, C.G.* (2015). The influence of background music on the visitor museum experience: a case study of the Laiho Memorial Museum. Visitor Studies, 18(2), 183-195.

Tsai, C.G.*, & Chen, C.P. (2015). Musical tension over time: listeners’ physiological responses to the ‘retransition’ in classical sonata form. Journal of New Music Research, 44(3), 271-286. [SSCI, IF=0.771]

Tsai, C.G.*, Yang, C.M., Chen, C.C., Chen, I.P., & Liang, K.C. (2015). Relaxation and executive control processes in listeners: an exploratory study of music-induced transient suppression of skin conductance responses. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 33(2), 125-143. [SSCI, IF=0.370]

Chang, Y.H., Lee, Y.Y., Liang, K.C., Chen, I. P., Tsai, C.G.*, & Hsieh, S.* (2015). Experiencing affective music in eyes-closed and eyes-open states: an electroencephalography study. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1160. [SSCI, IF=2.560]

Tsai, C.G., Chen, C.C., Wen, Y.C., & Chou T.L.* (2015). Neuromagnetic brain activities associated with perceptual categorization and sound-content incongruency: a comparison of music and speech. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 455. [SCI, IF=3.626]

Tzeng, N.S., & Tsai, C.G.* (2015). Dutuo and salvation in Beijing Opera Peng-Bei (Tragic Monument in Yang’s Saga) and Nan-Tien-Men (South Heavenly Gate): a study from the perspectives of psychiatry and audience psychology (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 22, 25-50.

Tsai, C.G., & Tzeng. N.S.* (2015). Music therapy for the elderly: perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (in Chinese). Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Medicine, 2, 87-106.

Tsai, C.G.*, Chen, R.S., & Yu, S.P. (2014). Analyzing the verse-chorus form: schema shifts and musical rewards in lyrical-slow songs (in Chinese). Research in Applied Psychology, 61, 239-286.

Tsai, C.G.*, Chen, R.S., & Tsai, T.S. (2014). The arousing and cathartic effects of popular heartbreak songs as revealed in the physiological responses of listeners. Musicae Scientiae, 18(4), 410-422. [SSCI, IF=1.537]

Tan, W.H., Tsai, C.G., Lin, C., & Lin, Y.K.* (2014). Urban canyon effect: storm drains enhance call characteristics of the Mientien tree frog. Journal of Zoology, 294(2), 77-84. [SCI, IF=1.545] [reports: Nature, bioforum.tw]

Yang, I.H., & Tsai, C.G.* (2014). Plucking positions on the guzheng strings: timbral analysis and performance practice (in Chinese). Yin Yue Yan Jiu, 19, 1-30.

Tsai, C.G.* (2014). The emotional expressions and structure in Beijing opera Pong-Yin: combining performance analysis with audience’s physiological measures (in Chinese). Journal of Traditional Chinese Theater, 11, 125-161.

Chen, I.P.*, Lin, Z.X., & Tsai, C.G. (2013). A felt-emotion-based corpora of music emotions (in Chinese). Chinese Journal of Psychology, 55(4), 571-599. [TSSCI]

Tsai, C.G.* (2013). Relationships between musical emotions and music cognition: dialogues between aesthetics and psychology (in Chinese). Journal of Xinghai Conservatory of Music, 2013.2, 120-127.

Tsai, C.G.*, & Chen, R.S. (2012). Desire, resolution, and reward system: listeners’ emotional responses to musical cadences (in Chinese). Journal of National Taiwan University of Arts, 90, 325-345.

Tsai, C.G., Fan, L.Y., Lee, S.H., Chen, J.H., & Chou, T.L.* (2012). Specialization of the posterior temporal lobes for audio-motor processing - evidence from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study of skilled drummers. European Journal of Neuroscience, 35(4), 634–643. [SCI, IF=3.658]

Yang, W.C., & Tsai, C.G.* (2011). Telling the red myth with western music: the function and practice of musical schema shifts in model Beijing operas (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 13, 131-157.

Tsai, C.G.*, Chen, C.C., Chou, T.L., & Chen, J.H. (2010). Neural mechanisms involved in the oral representation of percussion music: an fMRI study. Brain and Cognition, 74(2), 123-131. [SCI & SSCI, IF=2.547]

Tsai, C.G.* (2010). The song forms in cultures of humpback whales and songbirds: interdisciplinary perspectives of biomusicology (in Chinese). Huangzhong-Journal of Wuhan Music Conservatory, 2010.4, 129-134.

Tsai, C.G., Chen, C.L.*, & Lee, J.W. (2010). Literature soundscape in the museum: on the roles and functions of sound elements in literature exhibitions (in Chinese). Museology Quarterly, 24(1), 93-115.

Tsai, C.G.*, Wang, L.C., Wang, S.F., Shau, Y.W., Hsiao, T.Y., & Auhagen, W. (2010). Aggressiveness of the growl-like timbre: acoustic characteristics, musical implications, and biomechanical mechanisms. Music Perception, 27(3), 209-221. [SSCI, IF=1.068]

Tsai, C.G.* (2009). The Taiwanese horned fiddle: an example of exaptation of musical instruments (in Chinese). Huangzhong-Journal of Wuhan Music Conservatory, 2009.4, 129-134.

Tsai, C.G., Chen, J.H., Shau, Y.W., & Hsiao, T.Y.* (2009). Dynamic B-mode ultrasound imaging of vocal fold vibration during phonation. Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 35(11), 1812-1818. [SCI, IF=2.395]

Tsai, C.G.* (2009). Impure musical sounds: auditory model and harmonic-to-noise ratio (in Chinese). Guandu Music Journal, 10, 113-125.

Tsai, C.G.* (2009). From propaganda to dramatic ornaments: arias and divertissements in modern Beijing operas in 1958-1976 (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 10, 113-147.

Tsai, C.G.* (2008). String vibration with nonlinear boundary condition: an acoustical study of “blossoming tones” produced by the junhu (in Chinese). Huangzhong-Journal of Wuhan Music Conservatory, 2008.4, 168-173.

Tsai, C.G.* (2008). Madness by romantic identification: Brain diseases in Xiqu (in Chinese). Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore, 161, 83-133. [TSSCI]

Tsai, C.G., Shau, Y.W., Liu, H.M., & Hsiao, T.Y.* (2008). Laryngeal mechanisms during human 4 kHz vocalization studied with CT, videostroboscopy, and color Doppler imaging. Journal of Voice, 22(3), 275-282. [SCI, IF=0.953]

Tsai, C.G.*, & Lin, Y.Y. (2008). Contributions of epilepsy research to the psychology of music (in Chinese). Journal of Xinghai Conservatory of Music, 2008.1, 31-37.

Tsai, C.G.* (2007). When Beijing Opera actors meet Beiguan Opera: an impartation project for Beiguan Opera by Xiao-Yiao Theater (in Chinese). Journal of Culture Resources, 3, 75-94.

Tsai, C.G.* (2006). Disease and composing: syphilis in Smetana, Wolf, and Schubert (in Chinese). Formosan Journal of Music Research, 3, 91-106.

Tsai, C.G.* (2006). Towards the cognitive psychology of Xiqu music: examples from Xi-Mei-Fong-Yun and Da-Tzei-Men (in Chinese). Performing Arts Journal, 12, 159-172.

Tsai, C.G.* (2005). Chaotic behavior of performers’ vocalizations: an interdisciplinary study of growl voices (in Chinese). Taipei Theatre Journal, 2, 39-62.

Tsai, C.G.* (2004). Absolute pitch: studies in cognitive psychology (in Chinese). Guandu Music Journal, 1, 77-92.

Tsai, C.G.* (2000). Fu-Lu Sheng-Qiang of Taiwanese Luan-Tan-Xi belongs to Luan-Tan-Qiang system: evidence from tunes and repertory (in Chinese). Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore, 123, 43-88.

Tsai, C.G.* (1997). A comparison of Chinese Nan-Xi and opera comique: the structure of He-To and vaudeville final (in Chinese). Arts Review, 8, 163-185.

Tsai, C.G.* (1997). A preliminary study on music of Luan-Tan Xiao-Xi (in Chinese). Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore, 106, 1-29.

Book Chapters

Tsai, C.G.* (2015). Contemporary interaction between music and sciences: from fundamental research to clinical applications. In Rawnsley, M.Y.T., Wang, C.M., & Tang, K.P. (Eds.), Framing Trans-disciplinarity: Bridging Sciences and Humanities (pp. 307-342). Taipei: Ministry of Education.

Tsai, C.G.* (2022). The physics of musical instruments and voice. In Yu, H.T. (Eds.), Good Vibes: STEAM Talks on the Science of Sounds (pp. 1-24). Taipei: San Min Book.

Selected Conference Papers

C.G. Tsai. (2003) Relating the harmonic-rich sound of the Chinese flute (dizi) to the cubic nonlinearity of its membrane. Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference 2003, August 6-9.

C.G. Tsai. (2004) Helmholtz’s nasality revisited: physics and perception of sounds with predominance of upper odd-numbered harmonics. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

C.G. Tsai. (2004) Auditory grouping in the perception of roughness induced by subharmonics: empirical findings and a qualitative model. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

J.H. Chen*, and C.G. Tsai. (2004) Experimental research of the flow field in a brass mouthpiece-like channel using Particle Image Velocimetry. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

C.G. Tsai*, Y.W. Shau, and T.Y. Hsiao. (2004) False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: a hypothesis. International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, August 18-20, Marseille, France.

C.G. Tsai. (2004) The timbre space of the Chinese membrane flute (dizi): physical and psychoacoustical effects. 148th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, November 15-19, San Diego.

C.G. Tsai*, T.Y. Hsiao, Y.W. Shau, and J.H. Chen. (2006) Towards an intermediate water wave model of vocal fold vibration: Evidence from vocal-fold dynamic sonography. International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, July 12-14 2006, Tokyo, Japan.

C.G. Tsai*, Y.W. Shau, and T.Y. Hsiao. (2006) Vocal fold wave velocity in the cover and body layers measured in vivo using dynamic sonography. 7th International Conference on Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research, October 6-7, 2006, Groningen, the Netherlands.

C.G. Tsai. (2006) Inharmonic sounds of bowed strings in Western music and Beijing opera. 4th Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Acoustical Society of Japan, 28 November-2 December, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

C.G. Tsai*, J.H. Chen, T.Y. Hsiao, and Y.W. Shau. (2007) A seawater-seabed model of vocal fold vibration: in-vivo measurements of amplitude attenuation and phase lag. International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, 9-12 September, Barcelona, Spain.

C.G. Tsai*. (2008) Oral transmission of music: roles of the mirror neuron system in humans and humpback whales. Mini-Symposium on Cultural Evolution & Human Ecology, 30 May, Taipei, Taiwan.

J.H. Chen*, M.D. Chang, C.G. Tsai, T. Y. Hsiao, and Y. W. Shau. (2008). On the application of PIV algorithms to the analysis of ultrasound images of vocal fold tissues during phonation. The 13th International Symposium on Flow Visualization, Nice, France, July 1-4, 2008.

C.G. Tsai*, T.Y. Hsiao, Y.W. Shau, and S.F. Wang. (2008) Aggressiveness of the growl-like timbre: acoustical features and biomechanical mechanisms. The 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, 25-29 August 2008, Sapporo, Japan.

C.G. Tsai. (2012) Relating the harmonic-rich sound of the Chinese flute (dizi) to the cubic nonlinearity of its membrane. Joint meeting of the 163rd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), the 8th meeting of the Acoustical Society of China (ASC), the 11th Western Pacific Acoustics Conference (WESPAC), 13-18 May, Hong Kong, China.

C.G. Tsai. (2012) From 'wanting' to 'liking': listeners' emotional responses to musical cadences as revealed by skin conductance responses. Joint meeting of 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) & 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM), 23-28 July, Thessaloniki, Greece. 

L.C. Wang*, and C.G. Tsai. (2012) Embodiment of metrical structure: motor patterns associated with Taiwanese music. Joint meeting of 12th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) & 8th Triennial Conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM), 23-28 July, Thessaloniki, Greece.

C.G. Tsai*, and T.H. Cheng. (2017) Music facilitates imagination of emotional scenes: an fMRI study. The 6th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music, August 25-27, Kyoto. Japan.

C.G. Tsai*, and C.W. Li. (2018) Fate knocking at the door: frontal responses to tragic and joyful musical themes in classical sonata form. 15th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition 10th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. 23-28 July. Graz (Austria), La Plata (Argentina), Montreal, and Sydney.

C.G. Tsai*, Y.F. Fu, and C.W. Li. (2023) Switches between minor and major modes activate ventral insula, visual cortex, and frontoparietal network in listeners. The 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) and the 7th Conference of the Asia-Pacific Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. 24-28 August. Tokyo, Japan.

C.G. Tsai*, and C.W. Li. (2025) The neural basis of groove sensations: Implications for music-based interventions and dance therapy in Parkinson’s disease. The 4th International Symposium on Music and Health Promotion, 11–12 April 2025, Hsinchu, Taiwan.

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