INVITED TALKS & GUEST LECTURES
Proksch, S. (December 2026). Talk title tbd, on music-making in the age of AI. Talk to be presented at the workshop on Investigating “Understanding” Across Artificial and Natural Minds. University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Proksch, S. (March 2026). March Madness! Detecting patterns in sound and motion. Talk presented for the Augustana University Data Science club and Computer Science club. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA.
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Proksch, S. (April 2024). AI As a tool in the psychological sciences. Talk presented at an AI@AU Panel in collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship, Augustana University, Sioux Falls SD, USA. Video link.

Proksch, S. (November 2024).  It’s all in the timing: rhythm in music, brains, and interacting people. Talk presented for the University of South Dakota Neuroscience Club. Vermillion, South Dakota, USA.

Proksch, S. (November 2023). Attention and Consciousness. Guest lecture for NEUR 201 Fundamentals of Neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. 

Proksch, S. (April 2023). Acoustic social interactions: emergent crowd dynamics at a basketball game. Talk presented at the Crick Lecture series, University of Evansville, Evansville, Indiana, USA. 

Proksch, S. (October 2021). Acoustic social worlds: from Markov blankets to interpersonal synergies. Rising star keynote talk presented at Cognitio 2021: Active inference and collective intelligence, Université du Québec à Montréal , Canada. Video link.

Proksch, S. (June 2021). Music, movement, and the brain. Guest lecture for high school students of the Frontiers of Science Institute, University of Northern Colorado, USA. 
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Proksch, S., Reeves, M., Spivey, M., Balasubramaniam, R., (June 2021). Coordination dynamics of multi-agent human interaction within a musical ensemble. Talk presented at the Research Seminar in Systematic Musicology, Universität Graz, Austria. Video link. Poster link.

Proksch S., (January 2021) Neuroscience, music, & emotion. Guest lecture for undergraduate students of the UNC Wind Bands, University of North Carolina, Charlotte. USA. 

Proksch S., (July 2020) Neuroscience and music. Guest lecture for Introduction to Cognitive Science, University of California, Merced. USA.

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CONFERENCE TALKS

Proksch, S. (June 2026) The sensorimotor origins of beat perception and synchronization. Talk presented at the Eastern South Dakota Research Symposium. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA.

Proksch, S. (February 2026) Organic oranges and velvet sunsets: Human music in the age of AI. Talk presented at the conference on Science and Technology in the Anthropocene, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

Kloth, A., and Proksch., S. (October 2025). Liberal arts, interdisciplinarity, and vocation in a SLAC neuroscience seminar. Talk presented at the Association of Lutheran College Faculties Conference. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. 

​Bickmore, J. D.†, Cutler, M.C.†, Pedersen, K., Proksch, S., Transtrum, M. K., Gee, K. L. (May 2025). Feature selection for machine-learned crowd reactions at collegiate basketball games. Talk presented at the 188th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. †​external undergraduate student presenters

Bickmore, J. D.†, Cutler, M.C.†, Farrer, E.†, Pedersen, K., Proksch, S., Transtrum, M. K., Gee, K. L. (May 2025). Principal component analysis applied to feature selection at collegiate basketball and football games. Talk presented at the 188th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. †external undergraduate student presenters

Proksch, S. (June 2024) Coordination dynamics in crowds and musical ensembles. Talk presented at the Eastern South Dakota Research Symposium. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA.

Carbonneau, X.*, Bell, E.*, Skadsen, J.*, Proksch, S. (April 2024). Neurophysiological time course of timbre-induced music-like perception in report and non-report conditions: a replication and extension of Santoyo et al 2023. Talk presented at Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Conference. Denver, Colorado, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Proksch, S., Ross, J. M, Comstock, D. C., Backer, K. C., Iversen, J. R., Balasubramaniam, R. (August, 2022). Motor contributions to rhythm perception: a TMS-EEG Study. Talk presented at Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Portland, Oregon, USA. 

Proksch, S. (November 2019). Synchrony and the Markov Blankets of Mulit-Agent Human Interaction. Talk presented at Timescales of Life and Mind: Interdisciplinary Conference on Timescales as a Methodological Approach to Predictive Processing and the Free Energy Principle, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Proksch, S. (November 2017). Grounding musical entrainment and social cohesion in sensorimotor contingencies. Talk presented at Worlding the Brain 2017: Affect, Care, Engagement, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Proksch, S. (August 2017). Interoceptive inference and emotion in music: Integrating the neurofunctional ‘Quartet Theory of Emotion’ with predictive processing in music-related emotional experience. Talk presented at the Mind and Brain Annual Conference, Flint, Michigan. USA.

Novelli, N. & Proksch, S. (April 2017). The limitations of music making machines. Talk presented at the 6th Dubrovnik Conference on the Philosophy of Art, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

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CONFERENCE POSTERS

Kloth, A., and Proksch., S. (July 2026). Liberal arts, interdisciplinarity, and vocation in a SLAC neuroscience seminar. Poster presented at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Workshop. Naperville, Illinois, USA.

Hansen, S.*, Koirala, S., Proksch, S., Fair, D. (June 2026). Lateralization in functional brain network topography and language skills in adolescents using the ABCD study. Poster presented at the Eastern South Dakota Research Symposium. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Lechner, S.*, Wachal, L.*, Hansen, S.*, Proksch, S. (April 2026). Alpha activity in musicians vs non -musicians in a noise-induced melody perception task. Poster presented at Midwest Psychological Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Lechner, S.*, Wachal, L.*, Hansen, S.*, Proksch, S. (April 2026). Alpha activity in musicians vs non -musicians in a noise-induced melody perception task. Poster presented at Midwest Psychological Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Wachal, L.*, Lechner, S. *, Hansen, S.*, Proksch, S. (April 2026). Alpha activity in active vs passive listening in a noise-induced melody perception task. Poster presented at Midwest Psychological Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Hansen, S.*, Koirala, S., Proksch, S., Fair, D. (April 2026). Lateralization in functional brain network topography and language skills in adolescents using the ABCD study. Poster presented at Midwest Psychological Association Conference. Chicago, Illinois, USA. *undergraduate student presenters

Davis, W.*, Heisinger, A.*, Nickels, Z.*, Skadsen, J.*, Proksch, S. (April 2025). Neurophysiological time course of timbre-induced music-like perception in report and non-report conditions: a replication and extension of Santoyo et al 2023. Poster presented at Midwest Psychological Association Conference. Chicago, Illionois, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Davis, W.*, Heisinger, A.*, Nickels, Z.*, Skadsen, J.*, Proksch, S. (October 2024). Neurophysiological time course of timbre-induced music-like perception in report and non-report conditions: a replication and extension of Santoyo et al 2023. Poster presented at Midbrains/Upper Midwest Chapter for the Society for Neuroscience Conference. Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA.  *undergraduate student presenters

Kaur, J., Proksch, S., Balasubramaniam, R. (July 2022). The effect of detuning on interlimb coordination. Poster presented at Neural Control of Movement. Dublin, Ireland.
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Proksch, S., Reeves, M., Spivey, M., Balasubramaniam, R. (August 2021). Coordination dynamics of multi-agent human interaction - recurrence quantification analysis of a musical performance. Poster presented at the 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and 11th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. Sheffield, United Kingdom. Video link. 

Ross, J. M., Proksch, S., Iversen, J.R., Balasubramaniam, R. (August 2019). Down-regulation of left posterior parietal cortex impairs musical phase shift detection in subjects with good perceptual acuity for phase timing. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. New York City, USA. 

Ross, J. M., Proksch, S., Iversen, J.R., Balasubramaniam, R. (July 2019). Down-regulation of left posterior parietal cortex impairs musical phase shift detection in subjects with good perceptual acuity for phase timing. Poster presented at Synchrony and Rhythmic Interaction: From Neurons to Ecology Lorentz Workshop, Leiden, Netherlands.

Proksch, S., Booth, L., Dayer, A., Reeves, M., Spivey, M. (June 2019). Online and In Sync? Bodily synchrony & interpersonal closeness in audiovisual communication. Poster presented at American Psychological Association Advanced Training Institute on Nonlinear Methods for Psychological Science, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ross, J. M., Proksch, S., Iversen, J.R., Balasubramaniam, R. (March 2019). Hemispheric differences in parietal contributions to auditory beat perception. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2019 Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.

Proksch, S., Ross, J. M., Balasubramaniam, R. (February 2019). Hemispheric differences in parietal contributions to auditory beat perception. Poster presented at Spring School 2019 Language and Music in Cognition: Integrated Approaches to Cognitive Systems, Cologne, Germany.

Proksch, S. (November 2017). Interoceptive inference and emotion in music: Integrating the neurofunctional ‘Quartet Theory of Emotion’ with predictive processing in music-related emotional experience. Poster presented at Expecting Ourselves: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.


OTHER PRESENTATIONS

RadioBio GradStory (March 2019)
 Interviewed by RadioBio, a graduate student run podcast, during UC Merced’s Research Week

• Interview topic: Rhythms in Brains and Interacting People

​UC Merced Cognitive Science Student Association Symposium (December 2018)
Outreach event sharing graduate student cognitive science research with undergraduate students                                     

• Talk title: On Music & Artificial Intelligence: The limitations of music-making machines

Edinburgh Music Psychology Research (EMPRes) reading group (Spring 2017)
Organized and led discussion for three reading group sessions on:

• Introduction to music and predictive processing (Blog Post, Discussion Summary)
• Emotion in music and predictive processing (Blog Post, Discussion Summary)
• Rhythm in music and predictive processing (Blog Post, Discussion Summary)