Cognitive musicology

Cognitive musicology is a branch of cognitive science concerned with computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.[1]

Cognitive musicology can be differentiated from other branches of music psychology via its methodological emphasis, using computer modeling to study music-related knowledge representation with roots in artificial intelligence and cognitive science. The use of computer models provides an exacting, interactive medium in which to formulate and test theories.[2]

This interdisciplinary field investigates topics such as the parallels between language and music in the brain. Biologically inspired models of computation are often included in research, such as neural networks and evolutionary programs.[3] This field seeks to model how musical knowledge is represented, stored, perceived, performed, and generated. By using a well-structured computer environment, the systematic structures of these cognitive phenomena can be investigated.[4]

Even while enjoying the simplest of melodies there are multiple brain processes that are synchronizing to comprehend what is going on. After the stimulus enters and undergoes the processes of the ear, it enters the auditory cortex, part of the temporal lobe, which begins processing the sound by assessing its pitch and volume. From here, brain functioning differs amongst the analysis of different aspects of music. For instance, the rhythm is processed and regulated by the left frontal cortex, the left parietal cortex and the right cerebellum standardly. Tonality, the building of musical structure around a central chord, is assessed by the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum (Abram, 2015). Music is able to access many different brain functions that play an integral role in other higher brain functions such as motor control, memory, language, reading and emotion. Research has shown that music can be used as an alternative method to access these functions that may be unavailable through non-musical stimulus due to a disorder. Musicology explores the use of music and how it can provide alternative transmission routes for information processing in the brain for diseases such as Parkinson's and dyslexia as well.

  1. ^ Laske, Otto (1999). Navigating New Musical Horizons (Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance). Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30632-7.
  2. ^ Laske, O. (1999). AI and music: A cornerstone of cognitive musicology. In M. Balaban, K. Ebcioglu, & O. Laske (Eds.), Understanding music with AI: Perspectives on music cognition. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
  3. ^ Graci, C (2009). "A brief tour of the learning sciences featuring a cognitive tool for investigating melodic phenomena". Journal of Educational Technology Systems. 38 (2): 181–211. doi:10.2190/et.38.2.i. S2CID 62657981.
  4. ^ Hamman, M., 1999. "Structure as Performance: Cognitive Musicology and the Objectification of Procedure," in Otto Laske: Navigating New Musical Horizons, ed. J. Tabor. New York: Greenwood Press.