Using music to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to language

Patel, Aniruddh D.

doi:10.3758/s13423-016-1088-4

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Research with individuals classed as 'tune deaf' has shown that poor musical performance tends to be associated with deficits in processing speech sounds (Jones et al, 2009). Taken together, the research indicates that music and language share some cognitive processing mechanisms, although the specific underlying mechanisms have not yet been established (Patel, 2017).…”

Section: The Relationship Between the Processing Of Music And Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of making music on aural perception and language skills: A research synthesis

Hallam¹

2017

London Review of Education

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This paper provides a synthesis of research on the relationship between music and language, drawing on evidence from neuroscience, psychology, sociology and education. It sets out why it has become necessary to justify the role of music in the school curriculum and summarizes the different methodologies adopted by researchers in the field. It considers research exploring the way that music and language are processed, including differences and commonalities; addresses the relative importance of genetics versus length of time committed to, and spent, making music; discusses theories of modularity and sensitive periods; sets out the OPERA hypothesis; critically evaluates research comparing musicians with non-musicians; and presents detailed accounts of intervention studies with children and those from deprived backgrounds, taking account of the importance of the nature of the musical training. It concludes that making music has a major impact on the development of language skills.

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Section: The Relationship Between the Processing Of Music And Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of making music on aural perception and language skills: A research synthesis

Hallam¹

2017

London Review of Education

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“…Here I concur with Chomsky (2010), Berwick and Chomsky (2016) and Chomsky (2016) that it is the flexible and unrestricted capacity for hierarchical embedding that is central to our species' cognitive uniqueness; I differ from them in seeing it as something that was flexible enough to immediately play a role in both structured thought and linguistic communication, as well as in other domains (it is only at this stage that music in its modern sense, replete with hierarchical structure, was born; cf. Patel, 2016). Elsewhere, I have explored the neural changes that were necessary to achieve this final stage of dendrophilia (Fitch, 2014)-but in short, dendrophilia requires both extensive connections between temporal and parietal areas and the prefrontal regions surrounding Broca's area (the arcuate fasciculus) as well as a great expansion of Broca's areas (Friederici, 2016;Rilling et al, 2008;Schenker et al, 2010).…”

Section: Stage 4 Syntactic Homo Sapiensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

2017

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The study of language evolution, and human cognitive evolution more generally, has often been ridiculed as unscientific, but in fact it differs little from many other disciplines that investigate past events, such as geology or cosmology. Well-crafted models of language evolution make numerous testable hypotheses, and if the principles of strong inference (simultaneous testing of multiple plausible hypotheses) are adopted, there is an increasing amount of relevant data allowing empirical evaluation of such models. The articles in this special issue provide a concise overview of current models of language evolution, emphasizing the testable predictions that they make, along with overviews of the many sources of data available to test them (emphasizing comparative, neural, and genetic data). The key challenge facing the study of language evolution is not a lack of data, but rather a weak commitment to hypothesistesting approaches and strong inference, exacerbated by the broad and highly interdisciplinary nature of the relevant data. This introduction offers an overview of the field, and a summary of what needed to evolve to provide our species with language-ready brains. It then briefly discusses different contemporary models of language evolution, followed by an overview of different sources of data to test these models. I conclude with my own multistage model of how different components of language could have evolved.

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“…As this relationship showed a trend ( p = 0.02), one should consider this finding with caution. The relationship between music and language has been investigated for decades as reflected, among others, in the elegant work of Patel [ 42 ] or Peretz [ 43 ]. Various studies have confirmed a relationship between music listening and language as they share similar capacities in terms of perception and processing as well as neuroanatomical markers in language aptitude and musicality [ 41 – 48 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to a musically-enriched environment; Its relationship with executive functions, short-term memory and verbal IQ in primary school children

Jaschke¹,

Honing

Scherder

2018

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundPrevious literature has shown a putative relationship between playing a musical instrument and a benefit in various cognitive domains. However, to date it still remains unknown whether the exposure to a musically-enriched environment instead of playing an instrument yourself might also increase cognitive domains such as language, mathematics or executive sub-functions such as for example planning or working memory in primary school children.DesignCross-sectionalMethodExposure to a musically-enriched environment like listening to music at home, during play or when attending concerts was assessed using a comprehensive intake questionnaire administered to a sample of 176 primary school children. Furthermore, participants completed the verbal intelligence section of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale (WISC III), performed executive sub-function tasks such as planning (Tower of London), working memory (Klingberg Matrix backward span) and inhibition (Go/no-Go task), and a short-term memory task (Klingberg Matrix forward span).ResultsLinear and multiple regression analyses showed no significant relationship between exposure to a musically-enriched environment, executive sub-functions (planning, inhibition and working memory), and short-term memory. The relationship between an enriched musical environment and verbal IQ has revealed trends.DiscussionExperiencing a musically enriched environment does not serve as predictor for higher performance on executive sub-functions, however, can influence verbal IQ.

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Using music to study the evolution of cognitive mechanisms relevant to language

Cited by 15 publications

References 63 publications

The impact of making music on aural perception and language skills: A research synthesis

The impact of making music on aural perception and language skills: A research synthesis

Empirical approaches to the study of language evolution

Exposure to a musically-enriched environment; Its relationship with executive functions, short-term memory and verbal IQ in primary school children

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