Music Cognition: The Relationship of Psychology and Music

Olin G. Parker, Professor Emeritus, School of Music, University of Georgia, Athens, GA U.S.A.

How do humans experience music? What is the significance of the music experience? Why are musical
activities inexorably psychologically linked--in all cultures? What does music communicate and how does
it do this?

The central focus of this paper will be music cognition. Cognition is defined as the internal processes of
memory and 'thinking'. (Radocy and Boyle, 1997, p.4)

Many writers now consider that music cognition is a 'dominant domain' while recognizing the traditional
domains--cognitive, psychomotor and affective). The psychologically governed activities, including
perception and cognition, are a priori to musical behavior, which is one important aspect of human
behavior. The study of musical behavior does include related cognitive and perceptual processes.
Neisser (1997, p. 247) opines that cognitive psychology and related disciplines have made important and
ecologically valid discoveries in our continued amalgamation of the discipline of psychology and music.
Gaston (1957) weighed in much earlier by reminding us that musical behavior is studied through
psychology, anthropology and sociology.

Music is a product of the mind. The vibrational (physics of the cosmos) elements of frequency, form,
amplitude, and duration are not music to the human until they are neurologically transformed to, and
interpreted by the brain--as pitch, timbre, loudness, and time (the tonal frame). (Parker, 1990, p. 165)
This transformation into music and the human's subsequent responses (behaviour) is unique to the
perceived (cognition) because of the human's greatly developed cerebrum on the basis of that human's
past musical experiences. Psychology, the science of mind and behaviour, is, then, a means of
understanding the necessity of, and how the proper sensory environment (both direct and indirect
music education) results in enhanced development of the brain--the enrichment of the human's life.
Radocy and Boyle (1997) briefly explain that the overall neural network includes sensory, motor, and
interconnecting neurons. Most of the brain's neurons are interconnectors; they may be considered as
part of a gigantic interrellated computational network. Learning must involve enhancing the meaning
and efficiency of communications among functional units of neurons. Musical inputs, as all sensory
inputs, stimulate neural structures. Current sensory information may be compared with the stored
representative record of prior experiences, thereby guiding the organism's musical behavior.

Humanistic psychology is the point of view from which this article is written. The study of mankind is
based on the assumption that, as human beings, we are free and hence responsible for our actions and
the consequences to our well-being and growth. The humanistic orientation is based upon the view of
man as a conscious being capable of freedom and responsibility in the conduct of his life which are his--
the characteristics which make him uniquely human and separate from other living life in this world. It is
also interesting to note at this point that man, as distinguished from other living objects, has no innate
ways to experience the world or to act. He simply is an imitator of the examples that are available to him
and an inventor of new ways to be in the world.

It is to this latter point that I will address my remarks, mainly that man is a product of his environmental
influences. This is what is most fundamental about man's nature, that is, that he has to learn everything.
The 'nature' of man is that he acts in the world as a being with the limits, strengths and weaknesses of
which he is persuaded. This peculiarity of man (his vulnerability to influence and persuasion) can and
should be the basis for his growth in all types of development and transcendence. As we think about the
whole matter of education, we should remember that the history of man is that he is always surpassing
what once was believed to be ultimate limits--it clearly matters what people believe to be true about
man's potentialities. For example, we now think a child's cognitive abilities are developed much earlier
than was previously thought. Pre-kindergarten training is now known to be pedagogically essential
(Gordon, 1986), even pre-natal 'education' is presently widely researched.

When does the music experiencing begin? The music environment of the young child has long been the
concern of professional musicians, but little has been discovered about the effects on the foetus of the
music and sound environment until the last two decades or so. Wilkin (1994), after a decade of research,
reports that as early as 38 weeks gestation, the foetus appears to be selective in the music to which it
responds--thus she opines that the learning process in humans begins before birth. Also, during the last
two months of gestation it was possible to condition the human foetus. Abrams and Gerhardt (1997)
offer more details to substantiate the case for prenatal music for the foetus by saying that the degree to
which airborne music is heard by the foetus depends on the attenuation features of the abdominant
surface, the distance to the foetal head and the low pass features of bone conduction. However, music
produced by mechanical vibrators against the skin is transmitted more effectively and with less
attenuation to the amniotic fluid. (It has been known for many years that the peripheral and central
components of the auditory system are formed and functional prior to birth.) In consideration of the
continuing research results being reported on the importance of aural experiences for the unborn child,
this educative process may become recognized as equally important as we now recognize the place of
musical experiences in early childhood development.

What does the 'foetal training' have to do with music cognition? The aural sense, being the first of the
five senses to be physically developed, can be musically stimulated, thus enhancing brain development
in its functioning--and the sooner begun, the more learned in the lifetime of the human. Hodges (March,
2000),although making no claim about the efficacy of pre-natal musical training, reported that we are
knowing more and more about the environment (musical) producing physical brain changes (wiring and
structure), that music influences brain development, and that, because of the plasticity of the brain,
early development (music stimuli) will have a decisive, long-lasting impact. Contrarily, early negative (no
music) experiences may have dramatic and sustained consequences.
One concern very basic to those of us in the field of pedagogy (and all musicians are music pedagogues)
is to shape experiences as a way for persons to act, guided by intelligence and respect for life, so that
needs are satisfied and that they will grow in awareness, confidence and the capacity to experience
meaningfully the humanly unique aspects of life. Music experiences minister to the three basic 'needs'
of the human, viz., spiritual, emotional, and intellectual (the first of the three, spiritual, is related to
man's need to transcend himself. . . and music is the major enhancer of the Individual's worship
experiences. Also, two categories into which responses to music by the human have been labeled are
affective and aesthetic. Most authors have focused on the differences and similarities of the labels while
a very few have defined them as distinct one from the other. For most, the aesthetic experience is an
intense, subjective, personal experience that includes some mood, emotional, or feelingful aspect , that
is a component of the affective response. The affective response is generally discussed as a less
superficial response than the aesthetic response/experience. Such terms as taste, attitude, or
preference have been used inconsistently. (Parker, 1978)

The relationship (interaction) of psychological concepts and music is also exemplified by the fast growing
discipline of Music Therapy which needs to be mentioned here in the context of the importance of
musical experiences in the human's life. Mental illness is certainly a psychological aberration which is
treatable in a music therapy therapeutic setting. Oversimplied for purposes of this discussion, although a
person may have withdrawn from reality (is non-communicative), he may refuse to hear/interpret the
spoken word, but he cannot refuse to hear the music stimuli and respond to if IF the music stimuli is
remiiniscent of his past (learned) music experiences, because those have been encoded in his brain.

The origin of psychology (as a discipline) was that it was the‚ science of the soul (psyche equals soul or
mind, logos equals science). However, we are not always able to distinguish between what concerns the
body and what belongs to the mind. In applying knowledge and research from psychology in music to
the endeavors of musically educating, we need not think of splitting the soul/mind and the body--we
simply deal with the musical behavior of the individual--holistically, that is.

Each human has a need for music (there is no society/culture that does not have a music). Therefore,
what music, when? Briefly, Sloboda (1998) opines that feelings are tied to musical structure, that there
is a consistency in musical responses given the relatively same environment. Basically he is saying that
there is a strong cognitive content in the emotional experience that results from the musical stimuli. He
is making a strong case for the cognitive approach in the experiencing of music stimuli.

There should be constant interaction between the fields of music and psychology, because psychologists
are interested in the interpretation of human behavior and because music, in addition to being an art, is
a form of human behavior which is unique and powerful in its influence. Some questions which come to
mind, in attempting to successfully investigate this uniqueness and influence of music on the human's
behavior might include:

What is the language aspect/syntax of music?

What is the appropriate combination of aural, visual, and kinesthetic experiences? and,

From where does the meaning of music emanate? In searching for answers to such questions, perhaps
the most far-reaching endeavors by the music profession were the three Ann Arbor symposia, held in
1978, 1979, 1982, involving circa 150 musicians and psychologists.

The format of the symposia centered around questions/presentations by 12 musicians and responses by
12 psychologists. The six categories selected for discussion and debate were: auditory perception, motor
learning, child development, cognitive skills, memory and information, and affect and motivation.
Subsequent publications, presentations at profession meetings, and seminars were developed, and
answers promulgated/published disseminating the long term pedagogical goals of the music profession.
Out of the intense discussions between musicians and psychologists at the Ann Arbor symposia
important benefits are coming, not only pedagogically, but for institutional collaboration and for
reaching out to other disciplines, e.g., all the social sciences as well as the pure sciences.

At this time it would be germane to generalize on questions/answers under each of the six categories.
As to auditory perception, people come to any task, especially music, with their sum heritage, training,
and disposition--with apparent auditory limitations depending more on the limitations of the stimulus
than on the person's ability to discriminate. As to motor learning, the 'staggering' complexity of music
performance, psychomotor execution is still drawing a paucity of research in the discipline; only
speculative replies were managed at the symposia, such as 'globals' over 'locals'. Wilson (1986), with
much more lucidity offered helpful understandings in motor learning, such as answering why it is
important to practice slowly.

In the area of child development, inextricably wound up with developmental psychology, some 'useful'
answers, albeit pluralistic rather than singular, were proffered. Inconclusive research findings included
the warning that no one theory provides all the snswers. As to the area of cognitive skills, the
participants alluded to the relevance of certain psychological views to music education. The musicians
lamented that there was a critical need for a learning theory in music. The discussion culminated with
the predictions that, as with the physical sciences, where seemingly abstruse research does produce
unexpected practicall results, the same can and likely will happen in the music discipline. Recent
writings, e.g., by Hargreaves and Zimmerman (1992) are illustrative of those 1979 predictions.

In regard to memory and information processing, the issue of 'what to teach and when to teach'
surfaced in conjunction with the basic question of 'what is music'?
Although mention was made of the current brain hemispheric research reports, the symposia
participants were admonished to basically reject the information-processing theorists' analogies drawn
between the computer and the brain. Another chastisement, in reference to the nature-nurture issue
was that psychological researchers most often are not musicians and their subjects are non-musicians
whereas musician researchers often err in the opposite direction by extrapolating what goes on with
skilled performers to what goes on with children. Generally, the consensus centered on continuing to
straddle the nature-nurture issue with the idea that human perception is determined not only by the
stimulus, but also by the experiences and expectations of the perceiver.

The session on affect and motivation included an exhaustive review of research pertaining to the uses of
music as motivating reinforcement with relation to environmental factors. The lament here was in
reference to the dearth of systematic research to undergird pedagogical sequencing for aesthetic
education and aesthetic growth. One psychologist did counter (in connection with extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation discussions) by stressing individual differences and stating that people are changed by
experiences and that, as they get older, they change in predictable systematic ways.

Following the symposia for 1978 and 1979, a number of meetings and workshops devoted to the
symposia were held in Miami, Minneapolis, and Akron as well as on numerous college campuses. The
purpose of the third symposium (1982) was to summarize current knowledge and theory in motivation
and creativity and to apply the results to the teaching and learning of music at all levels. In both areas
the discussants emphasize the concept of self-competence, that this is an intrinsic motivation which
develops over a period of years, beginning in the early stages of learning with extrinsic rewards often
necessary to get students past their perceived lack of progress and boredom. Emphasis was prevalent
on the matter that ability is learnable and changeable, that, for the development of creativity, we
actually must teach the appropriate technical masteries and stylistic sensitivities. What psychology must
teach us is that the field's techniques and styles function as tools and means rather than as obstacles
and hurdles.

Inextricably prevalent in the facts, theories, speculations, and doubts opined throughout the aegis of the
symposia in regard to learning music, were the major themes of individual differences, teaching goes on
at all ages and levels, and that sequencing of experiences is a priori. Obviously, these are in the domain
of music cognition as well as all of life's learnings. The symposia constituted an important base for future
research and applications of the research in music.

A more recent symposium bringing together psychologists and musicians was held at Uppsala University
in Uppsala, Sweden, 7-12 June 1997. This was the Third Triennial Conference of the European Society for
the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM). There were 162 presenters of refereed research papers,
representing 26 countries. The presenters were about evenly divided--50% psychologists and 5)%
musicians, Hodges (1997) addressed one of the main concerns of both disciplines as follows:
For its current richness, music psychology is a fractionated discipline. Muchhigh quality work is going on
here and around the world, but often without an overarching conception of the field as a whole. One of
the reasons this is so that differences in training may keep us from a more coherent and complete view
of the field. . .simplistically, musicians may regard some psychologists' research as musically naive, while
psychologists may view the research of some musicians as less than rigorous. Other differences arise
between basic and applied researches, between researchers and practioners, between differences
based on geography or language, etc. (p. 33)

The ESCOM Conference was, in essence, a call for unification of the goals and objectives of the
researchers and practitioners of the two disciplines, as promulagated by Hodges (1997): . . .one of the
simplest and quickest changes to make would be for everyone working in the field to adopt a multi- and
interdisciplinary view of music psychology. That is, we should be encouraged to read broadly and to
adopt a holistic attitude toward musical behavior. (p. 40)

It is my feeling that the implications of what the psychologists can tell us about such things as:

Is there a difference between music perception and general perception;

Is there transfer of auditory perceptual skills to music from other modes of listening,; and,

Is there a best learning time, mental development, for the acquisition of music perceptual skills? For
another instance, could it be that pitch and not rhythm is the crucial factor in learning music, as some
psychologists are now suggesting, which is contrary to what we have believed these many years?

We are also having some reports of research that tell us that we do not learn to read music as we learn
to read our language, viz., learning musical syntax is different than learning language syntax. (Hodges,
March, 2000) The foregoing idea is supported by a previous study reported by Storr (1992) wherein the
left hemisphere was sedated while the right hemisphere was in a normal state. The subject exhibited
the emotional effect of music that was heard. As practicioners, we will have to remember that research
reports will be limited in effectiveness only as we fail to put them into practice. It is our concern to
provide the appropriate environment for the human as a child to coincide with his developmental
potentials.

Another major source of confirmation is Gagne's (1970) hierarchies of learning which provide an
understanding of essential conditions for learning, labeling eight learning types for simple to complex,
the prerequisite capabilities, and the external conditions of learning. The empirical adaptation of these,
in connection to the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains, has helped music teachers in their
successes because there is a simple to complex continuum for almost all music outcomes. This
continuum is irrevocably ties to the kind of learning nexessary for step-by-step achievement.
Developmental psychology has influenced music education curriculum makers to almost establish firm
and inalterable stages, determined by age for the musical development for children. This means that
steps in musical development are linked with age and an exact coincidence of a certain level of musical
development for the certain age is said to exist. Michel (1973) warns against the establishment of such
narrow and rigid age limits because they can have a serious effect on the whole range of music
education which would lead to selecting teaching materials matched with each stage and any
transgression of the age stages is branded as an educational climb. He feels that this rigid view overlooks
the fact that the essential process of musical development is always an individual matter in which age
can be one fact among sever, and not the sole determinant. He suggests that 'far greater significance be
attached to the opportunities that exist for practical music activity on the part of the child that is his
active dialogue with the musical phenomenon of his environment'.

Michel does suggest that music teachers should not wait for the development alleged to occur
spontaneously at particular age levels, but that teachers must provoke and encourage development to
the fullest possible extent by conscious organization of musical activity. Not only is it imperative that in
the training of younperformersÓg children that we teachers be concerned about the nature of their
acquiring perceptual technical skills (cognitive and psychomotor) but we must additionally concern
ourselves with the training of each individual to have the most possible significant aesthetic experiences.

Significant aesthetic experiences, it follows, are based on choices that have been developed from past
musical experiences, mainly I am referring to musical tastes--which are defined as 'stable, long-term
preferences to particular types of music composers, or performers'. (Russell, 1997, p. 141). Tastes
develop out of experiences gained in home, church, club, school, and out of contacts with the concert
stage, recordings, radio, television, and the printed page. The agencies of education, propaganda, and
censorship help persons to revere certain composers and/or performers, and to take less seriously other
composers and their works. Age, intelligence, special training, and all musical experiences can be
important variables in this process of taste formation. In summary of the acquisition of how we come to
acquire several standards of musical taste, musical taste is not whimsical and it is culture-bound, not
culture-free.

The idea that the need for music is universal is a viable premise. Therefore, if there is music in every
society, there will be some sort of music education in every society, whether formal or informal. Music is
learned, wherever; therefore the principles of learning are happening, hopefully psychologically based.
Thus, the disciplines of music and psychology are compatibles and not alternatives. This
interdependence becomes more profound as the mental processes develop sequentially, and as the
individual develops a set of music preferences/tastes. The sheer ubiquity of music's presence in each
society, whether as an art form or in a functional mode, establishes music as a cultural activity, an
artifact, which shapes and controls so much of human behavior in an all-pervasive manner.
Finally, then, teachers/performers of music must search out and employ all the psychological avenues of
learning in order to be a major force in the achievement of the umo universale --that maximal musical
literacy does result for all the world's societies. Utilizing psychological principles of learning in serving as
purveyors of cultures, teachers of music will serve a catalysts in achieving world-wide musical literacy.
And, this must be achieved before the world's population can experience the sought-for profundity of
humaness! 'We are the world.'

Cognitive psychology of music learning is the study of the perceptive and generative processes involved
in listening to, performing, analyzing, improvising, and composing music.

Children and Music: Benefits of Music in Child Development

An infant at a piano

Singing and music play an important role in our culture. You'll find music present in many aspects of our
lives: theater, television, movies, worship, holidays, celebrations, and government and military
ceremonies. At home, music can become part of our family cultures—a natural part of our everyday
experiences.

From birth, parents instinctively use music to calm and soothe children, to express love and joy, and to
engage and interact. Parents can build on these natural instincts by learning how music can impact child
development, improve social skills, and benefit children of all ages.

Music and the Brain: The Benefits of Music

A 2016 study at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute found that musical
experiences in childhood can actually accelerate brain development, particularly in the areas of
language acquisition and reading skills. According to the National Association of Music Merchants
Foundation (NAMM Foundation), learning to play an instrument can improve mathematical learning and
even increase SAT scores.

But academic achievement isn’t the only benefit of music education and exposure. Music ignites all
areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional,
motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together. Exposing children
to music during early development helps them learn the sounds and meanings of words. Dancing to
music helps children build motor skills while allowing them to practice self-expression. For children and
adults, music helps strengthen memory skills.
In addition to the developmental benefits, simply put: music bring us joy. Just think about listening to a
good song in the car with the window down on a beautiful day. That's joy.

Music Games for Kids of All Ages

Children of all ages express themselves through music. Even young infants sway, bounce, or move their
hands in response to music. Many preschoolers make up songs and, with no self-consciousness, sing to
themselves as they play. Children in elementary school learn to sing together as a group and possibly
learn to play a musical instrument. Older children dance to the music of their favorite bands, and use
music to form friendships and share feelings. Try these activities and games with your children to
experience the pleasure and learning that music brings.

Infants and Music: Infants recognize the melody of a song long before they understand the words.
Quiet, background music can be soothing for infants, especially at sleep time. Loud background music
may overstimulate an infant by raising the noise level of the room. Sing simple, short songs to infants.
Try making up one or two lines about bathing, dressing, or eating to sing to them while you do these
activities. Find more musical learning activities for infants.

Infant Music Activity

The infant classroom at Bright Horizons at Wellesley participates in a music activity involving different
instruments and singing in both English and Spanish. Visit our Wellesley, MA child care website.

Toddlers and Music: Toddlers love to dance and move to music. The key to toddler music is repetition,
which encourages language and memorization. Silly songs make toddlers laugh. Try singing a familiar
song and inserting a silly word in the place of the correct word, like “Mary had a little spider” instead of
lamb. Let children reproduce rhythms by clapping or tapping objects.

Preschoolers and Music: Preschoolers enjoy singing just to be singing. They aren’t self-conscious about
their ability and most are eager to let their voices roar. They like songs that repeat words and melodies,
use rhythms with a definite beat, and ask them to do things. Preschool children enjoy nursery rhymes
and songs about familiar things like toys, animals, play activities, and people. They also like finger plays
and nonsense rhymes with or without musical accompaniment.

School-Age Children and Music: Most young school-age children are intrigued by kids’ singalong songs
that involve counting, spelling, or remembering a sequence of events. School-age children begin
expressing their likes and dislikes of different types of music. They may express an interest in music
education, such as music lessons for kids.
Teens and Music: Teenagers may use musical experiences to form friendships and to set themselves
apart from parents and younger kids. They often want to hang out and listen to music after school with a
group of friends. Remember those days of basement and garage bands? Teens often have a strong
interest in taking music lessons or playing in a band.

There is no downside to bringing children and music together through fun activities. We are able to
enjoy the benefits of music from the moment we’re born. Although a good dose of Mozart is probably
not increasing our brain power, it’s enjoyable and beautiful. From the pure pleasure of listening to
soothing sounds and rhythmic harmonies, to gaining new language and social skills music can enliven
and enrich the lives of children and the people who care for them.