on the Mind

Research in and Cognition By Katie Banks

hat if we could take a recording the world have discovered, using this the holy grail of a good transcription Wfrom any music tradition in the software, that European folk songs system for all world , limited world and generate a usable score for have a characteristic melodic arch both by computer algorithms and it automatically? What if we could shape; showed that a computer can be the lack of any notation system for take the field recordings done by trained to automatically classify works many of the world’s musics. But with musicologists over decades and ana- as mostly monophonic, homophonic, HumDrum, even music never before lyze all of them at once? What new RUSRO\SKRQLFHPSLULFDOO\YHULÀHGWKH written down can be encoded and sonic landscapes are open to com- common music-theoretic idea of con- studied systematically. posers, who can now control every stant “complexity” by showing that as Huron has used his large data harmonic in every note they sound? tempo increases What does musical structure tell us i n H a y d n ’ s about the structure of our minds and string quartets, languages? How did music evolve? r hyth m s a n d These are just some of the press- harmonies be- ing questions driving interdisciplinary come simpler; research in musicology, neurosci- and studied the ence and in the past two effect of a new decades, as scientists and musicians i n s t r u m e n t ’s supplement clinical case studies and invention on ethnography with robust statistical melodies and analyses of large data sets. har monies in Cajun music Empirical Musicology (1). There is a of Ohio State’s Cog- hitch: most of nitive and Systematic Musicology the music has to Laboratory developed the HumDrum be hand-coded toolkit, a scripting language for en- into the system. Figure 1. Huron found this characteristic arch shape to the melodies of thousands of Eu- coding music and searching for pat- We’re still a long URSHDQIRONVRQJVFRUURERUDWLQJWKHPXVLFWKHRU\LGHDRIPHORGLFFRQWRXUZLWKVFLHQWLÀF evidence. terns within it. Researchers around ways away from musicmindandbrain.wordpress.com http://musicog.ohio-state.edu/Huron/Publications/huron.arch.text.html; credit:

fall 2011 ‡ Harvard Review 41 VHWVDQGH[SHULPHQWVWRFRQÀUP FHUWDLQWKLQJVWKDWPXVLFLDQVÀQG LQWXLWLYHDPRQJKLVÀQGLQJVWKDW pieces in the minor mode are usu- ally slower (except in the Romantic period) and a breaking voice in country music is correlated with grief-related lyrics (10, 13). This sort of analysis seems pedantic to many musicians: but in any young science, it’s important to establish a rigorous methodology and a foundation that agrees with what we observe. This is so even for the most “trivial” observations—especially for a new science that bridges disciplines with “postmodern” versus “empirical” methodologies. And already Huron has found groundbreaking new things: he’s derived the rules of Western common practice voice Figure 2. An fMRI from the lab of Petr Janata at UC Davis, showing response to familiar music, leading from a few basic perceptual salient memories, and enjoyable music. principles, in the process showing that some of the “rules” are just statistical brains compared to the general popu- ceiving of a sounded tone as anything necessities; and established that listen- lation: early musical training confers other than the tonic pitch, and the ers can determine the genre, style and EHQHÀWVLQQRQPXVLFDOGRPDLQVOLNH HEEDQGÁRZRI  FRPSOH[ DXGLWRU\ mood of a piece of music—something executive functioning and attention, stimuli is reduced into easier catego- that takes hours of score analysis— as well as auditory abilities like at- ries. Brain retraining is one piece of IURPWKHÀUVWWKUHHVHFRQGV   tending to one conversation in a noisy the intricate link between music and environment (the “cocktail-party language, wherein musicians attend Music, Language and the Brain problem”). One possible explana- more to subtle meanings in speech In other laboratories, experiments tion is the precision processing of contours and show gains in language with music give insight into the na- pitch and rhythm required by music, acquisition—hypothesized to come ture of the mind. As compared to speech— from the organization into abstract Huron points out, the “The opportunity which could argue that sound categories with syntactic rela- opportunity to do this to do this kind music is just like any tions that both music and language kind of research is fast of research is other kind of highly processing require (9). So far the evi- disappearing with the specialized and exact- dence shows that music and language spread of Western music fast disappearing ing training in how share some processing circuitry, and around the world: we with the spread it rewires our plastic that even things that should be spe- can’t say anything about of Western music brain (6). FLÀFDOO\PXVLFDO³OLNHWKHSURFHVVLQJ effect on the mind from around the world” More striking are of tonality—is involved in speech old recordings, and we WKHÀQGLQJVE\.UXP- processing (15). But many research can’t do cross-cultural hansl and others that programs are still preliminary, and experiments to establish brain uni- non-musicians also organize sound much teasing out of different effects versals when Western music itself has into discrete, functional pitch cat- remains to be done. become universal (4, 8). egories: even those who don’t know But within this limited scope, re- what the words mean expect the Music and Biological Evolution searchers are gaining a window into tonic to follow the dominant (5). Beyond functional brain imaging the mind and its evolution through its Musicians, further, have their sonic studies and cognitive models, some processing of music. We know that worlds reorganized into specifically are beginning to investigate the evolu- there are differences in musician’s musical ones: they have trouble con- tion of the human music capacity and credit: Katie Banks

42 Harvard Science Review ‡ fall 2011 and this collaboration is the norm at centers across the country. Research like this has a short history, but its future is promising—and its methods and programs have inspired other col- laborative projects bridging and the . —Katie R. Banks ‘13 is an Applied Math- ematics concentrator in Cabot House, currently off-campus.

References 1. http://musicog.ohio-state.edu/Humdrum/ projects.html 2. Cross, I & Watson, A. (2006). “ and the human experience of socially organised sound.” In Acoustics, space and intentionality: identifying intentionality in the ancient use of acoustic spaces and structures, Scarre, C. & Lawson, G. (eds.), Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Figure 3. Much has been said about ancient art through the cave paintings at Lascaux, like Research, 107-116. these in the Hall of Bulls. Some day soon, we may know more about what kind of music was 3. Drapeau, J., et al. (2009) “Emotion recognition produced in these caves thousands of years ago. from face, voice and music in dementia of the Alzheimer type: implications for .” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: The the role of music across evolutionary based on these methods. Neurosciences and Music III—Disorders and Plasticity 1169: pp. 342-345. history. Be warned: research in this 4. Huron, D. (2008). “Lost in music.” Nature 453: area is marked by heated controversy What’s It All For? 456-458. 5. Krumhansl, C.L. and Cuddy, L.L. (2010). “A theory and a glut of speculation alongside The study of music and mind is of tonal hierarchies in music.” In: Popper, A.N., Fay, R.R., and Jones, M.R. (Eds.), : solid empirical studies, and basic young, as are empirical musicological Springer Handbook of Auditory Research. New York: philosophical and methodological studies. Many papers and books in Springer-Verlag. 6. Patel, A.D. (2010). “Music, biological evolution, issues abound. But there is exciting WKHVHÀHOGVDUHGHYRWHGWRIRXQGD- and the brain.” In: M. Bailar, (Ed.). Emerging Dis- work being done to close this specu- tional issues of method or purpose. ciplines. Houston, TX: Rice University Press: pp. 91-144. lative gap, involving activities related So what can come of this work? 7. Patel, A.D, et. al. (2008). “Speech intonation per- to music and language in non-human Already, it has practical clinical and FHSWLRQGHÀFLWVLQPXVLFDOWRQHGHDIQHVV FRQJHQLWDO ).” Music Perception 25: 357-368. animals and even “archaeological musical significance. Studies of 8. Patel, A.D. (2008). “Talk of the tone.” Nature 453: 726-727. acoustics.” In the Carey psychology FRQJHQLWDOVSHHFKDQGPXVLFGHÀFLWV 9. Patel, A.D., & Peretz, I. (1997). “Is music au- lab here at Harvard, some graduate in Isabelle Peretz’s lab in Montreal tonomous from language? A neuropsychological appraisal.” In: Perception and Cognition of Music. students study the apparent ability suggest effective music therapy ap- I. Deliège and J. Sloboda, Eds. London: Erlbaum of certain songbirds to move to a proaches to helping stroke victims Psychology Press: pp. 191-215. 10. Paul, B., & Huron, D. (2010). “An association beat (14). and Alzheimer’s patients (3, 7). Bob between breaking voice and grief-related lyrics 7KHUHVHDUFKRI+DUYDUGDIÀOLDWH Slevc at the University of Maryland in Country Music.” Empirical Musicology Review 5 (2): 27-35. Irene Pepperberg, famous for the relates musical ability to second lan- 11. Pepperberg, Irene. Publications. http://www. alexfoundation.org/support_research.html “Alex studies” of linguistic and cog- guage acquisition, with implications 3OD]DN-+XURQ'  ´7KHÀUVWWKUHH nitive abilities in parrots, lets us test for how we teach children (16). And seconds: listener knowledge gained from brief musical excerpts.” Musicae Scientiae 15 (1): 29-44. evolutionary hypotheses rigorously our computer models of instruments 13. Post, O., & Huron, D. (2009). “Western classical through cross-species studies (11). and brains have broad applications music in the minor mode is slower (except in the Romantic period).” Empirical Musicology Review 4 And across the pond at the University in composition: spectral compos- (1): 2-10. of Cambridge’s Music and Science ing based on subtle shifts in timbre, 14. Schachner, A. (2010). The origins of human and avian auditory-motor entrainment. In A. Wes- center, director Ian Cross is adapting “laptop orchestras” at Princeton and sel, R. Menzel, & G. Tembrock (Eds.), Quo Vadis, Behavioural Biology? Past, Present, and Future of acoustical methods developed for Stanford, and compositions made an Evolving Science. (Nova Acta Leopoldina N.F., concert halls in the last two hundred E\DUWLÀFLDOLQWHOOLJHQFHV\VWHPVWKDW Bd. 111, Nr. 380). 15. Slevc, L.R., Rosenberg, J.C., & Patel, A.D. (2009). years to archaeological studies of sites mimic Bach or Palestrina. At Stan- “Making psycholinguistics musical: Self-paced read- WKRXVDQGVRI\HDUVROG  ,QWKH ford’s Center for Computer Research ing time evidence for shared processing of linguistic and .” Psychonomic Bulletin and future, we may be able to say much in Music and Acoustics, statisticians Review 16: 374-381. more about what social functions and cognitive scientists work along- 16. Slevc, L.R. & Miyake, A. (2006). Individual GLIIHUHQFHV LQ VHFRQG ODQJXDJH SURÀFLHQF\ 'RHV certain ancient spaces were used for side composers and musicologists— musical ability matter? Psychological Science, 17(8): 675-681. credit: http://lascaux.culture.fr

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