Abstract
The classical, disembodied approach to music cognition conceptualizes action and perception as separate, peripheral processes. In contrast, embodied accounts of music cognition emphasize the central role of the close coupling of action and perception. It is a commonly established fact that perception spurs action tendencies. We present a theoretical framework that captures the ways in which the human motor system and its actions can reciprocally influence the perception of music. The cornerstone of this framework is the common coding theory, postulating a representational overlap in the brain between the planning, the execution, and the perception of movement. The integration of action and perception in so-called internal models is explained as a result of associative learning processes. Characteristic of internal models is that they allow intended or perceived sensory states to be transferred into corresponding motor commands (inverse modeling), and vice versa, to predict the sensory outcomes of planned actions (forward modeling). Embodied accounts typically refer to inverse modeling to explain action effects on music perception (Leman, 2007). We extend this account by pinpointing forward modeling as an alternative mechanism by which action can modulate perception. We provide an extensive overview of recent empirical evidence in support of this idea. Additionally, we demonstrate that motor dysfunctions can cause perceptual disabilities, supporting the main idea of the paper that the human motor system plays a functional role in auditory perception. The finding that music perception is shaped by the human motor system and its actions suggests that the musical mind is highly embodied. However, we advocate for a more radical approach to embodied (music) cognition in the sense that it needs to be considered as a dynamical process, in which aspects of action, perception, introspection, and social interaction are of crucial importance.
Highlights
Music is known to be a powerful medium that evokes body movements in listeners, ranging from tapping the feet, shaking the head, swaying the arms and hips, to more sophisticated forms of free or stylized dance
Traditionally, body movements—whether performed by a music performer or by a listener—were considered as the mere output of internal cognitive processes that involved a system of symbolic representations
Empirical evidence has begun to appear indicating that the human motor system and its actions may modulate people’s experience, perception, and understanding of sound and music
Summary
Music is known to be a powerful medium that evokes body movements in listeners, ranging from tapping the feet, shaking the head, swaying the arms and hips, to more sophisticated forms of free or stylized dance. 2. ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING Above, we outlined the common coding of action and perception as a core mechanism underlying people’s engagement with music (motor control and sensory processing). It was shown that the acquisition-consistency effect in the test phase was affected by the contingency of action and effect in the training phase Together, these findings show that both the contiguity and contingency between actions (here, keypresses) and auditory events (here, sinusoidal tones, MIDI marimba/flute tones) are important in the process of acquiring sensory-motor associations. We will discuss empirical evidence demonstrating that sensory-motor association learning, with musical instrument training as a special case, may lead to action-based effects on auditory perception
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