Action-based effects on music perception

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.

Synchronization and temporal processing

“…The notion that perception is active is an old one, from at least the time of Helmholtz, but one that is currently attracting a large amount of attention in neuroscience in general [44] and more specifically in the area of rhythm perception [31,32,[45][46][47]. These accounts build either on the dynamic attending theory of Jones (e.g.…”

How Down is a Downbeat? Feeling Meter and Gravity in Music and Dance

“…), I am also persuaded from experience of working with dancers that different bodies, different regimes of physical training, different bodily stances while listening (whether sitting, walking, dancing), even different clothing, can lead to different hearings of the same music (see Maes, Leman, Palmer, & Wanderley, 2014, for a recent summary of research in this field). Larson (2012) allows for such differences in his discussion of how listeners parse pulses into meter: the fact that people group beats in different ways "underscores the point that it is our minds, not just the stimuli, that shape the meaning that is created" (p. 137).…”

Music: Specialized to Integrate?

“…Music simply moves us. When we are playing, tapping, dancing, or singing along with music, the sensory experience of musical patterns is intimately coupled with action, suggesting musical cognition is necessarily embodied (Maes, Leman, Palmer, & Wanderley, 2013).…”