IngentaConnect Neuropsychology, mental cognitive models and music processing

Abstract:

Two separate and distinct problems are discussed in this article: 1) the relations between clinical cases of amusias and their lesional topography, and 2) the problem of defining more closely the nature of music, its cognitive structure and the possible ways by which the human brain (the mind) is capable of hearing and making sense of it. (1) Despite the lesional predominance of the right cerebral hemisphere, there are frequent exceptions and, within right-sided lateralization, there are very few topographical elements that allow a precise clinico-topographical predictability. Contrast with clinico-anatomical aspects of aphasias is noted. I propose that in the case of music the low degree of constancy in the functional topography is greatly due to the fact that music does not depend solely on its acoustic auditory sensory nature, but is primarily dependent on its internal organizational principles. This contrasts with language and speech which have more constant codes (letters, phonemes, lexico-semantic relations). (2) The importance of cognitive processing models is suggested and music is again contrasted with speech and language. Music hearing and understanding are here considered to be primarily non-verbal, non-semantic expertise, not radically different from expert behaviors in other perceptual or motor realms such as painting, chess playing, poetry, etc. Music is contrasted with speech and language with respect to the previous mental experience of individuals: for language, the mental process is considered primarily an arousal of already present verbal organizational representations, while in music no such previous experience seems to be indispensable. In music, the hearer must gradually develop and discover the musical perceptual organizational principles.

Keywords: Music neuropsychology; amusias; cerebral localization; cognitive processing models; cognitive skills; perceptual organization

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/07494468900640341

Affiliations: 1: Laboratory of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, Good Samaritan Hospital, 1015 N.W. 22nd Ave., Portland, Oregon, 97210, USA

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