My research revolves around: Music and Human cognition in general, background music and cognitive abilities, musical tension and memory processes. I also have research interests related to philosophy.
Selected Published Peer-reviewed Articles:
2025: Kurzom et al. The effect of background music on memory formation of spoken words: a tradeoff between tension perception and memory. Music Perception 25 (Link to the article).
2023: Kurzom et al. Increasing the complexity of isolated musical chords benefits concurrent associative memory formation. Sci Rep 13, 7563 (Link to the article)
2022: Kurzom et al. Avoid Pleasant Music while you learn: the effects of musical chord complexity on declarative memory(pre-print) (Link to the article)
2022: Kurzom, N., Mendelsohn, A. A tradeoff between musical tension perception and declarative memory. Psychon Bull Rev (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02095-z (Link to the article)
2018: Musical Dissonance and Sustained Attention: Experimental investigations on the perception of musical dissonance. (University of Osnabrueck, Germany).
2018: Beyond Reason: The inter-relationship between theology, reason and human cognition in the Arabic and Islamic philosophy. (University of Osnabrueck, Germany).
Articles for the public audience:
2020: Fear and tension weaken the immune system and increase susceptibility to infectious viruses such as coronavirus. (Environmental psychology magazine): Link
2020: Living near major roads is associated with neurological and brain disorders in older adults. (Environmental Psychology magazine): Link
2019: Spending more time in nature improves brain function (Environmental Psychology magazine): Link
Books:
2025: Kurzom, N. The Practical Guide in Music therapy (Guide-Arabic). Dar Al Kalima University Press (Link)
2018: Kurzom, N. Investigations and meditations on Psychology, Philosophy and Music (Book-Arabic). Al Ru'aa for Publications. (link to the book)
2004: Kurzom, N. Passenger of ages (a story-Arabic). Tamer Institute. (Link to the book)