Dr. Rita Aiello is a music psychologist who addresses the perceptual and the cognitive processes that are applied when listening to music, and the relationship between the mental representation and the emotional import of music. Her research interests include the neuroaesthetics of music, music learning, and music memory.
Throughout her doctoral training at Columbia University, she worked with Thomas Bever in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics, and wrote her dissertation The Effect of Musical Training on Cerebral Dominance under his supervision.
Trained as a classical pianist, Dr. Aiello has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the City University of New York, and has been a visiting professor at the Università degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, and at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland. She is currently an honorary visiting adjunct professor at Columbia University, Teachers College.