Music Perception and Cognition: An Overview
Welcome to the study of music cognition, one of the most fascinating aspects of being human! The Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC) is a not-for-profit scholarly organization dedicated to this field.
The Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC) is a hub for the study of music cognition. Our resources page features a detailed map of music cognition labs worldwide. We also offer a course syllabi bank from those teaching classes on music cognition and other related topics.
Key Concepts and Theories
Music perception and cognition encompass a wide range of topics, including:
- Basics of Psychoacoustics (sound waves, amplitude, frequency, resonance)
- Functions of the auditory system, ear vs. brain
- Modes of listening and attention
- Evolutionary development of sonic perception, Music and Language
- Pitch perception and tuning systems
- Spatialization and auditory scene analysis
- Musical memory and recognition
- Emotional responses to music
- Sonic illusions (Shepherd’s tone, Risset effect, Wessel effect)
- Technology and music perception, principles of synthesis
- Timbral perception and the overtone series
Basic perceptual dimensions of hearing (pitch, timbre, consonance/roughness, loudness, auditory grouping) form salient qualities, contrasts, patterns and streams that are used in music to convey melody, harmony, rhythm and separate voices.
Perceptual, cognitive, and neurophysiological aspects of the temporal dimension of music (rhythm, timing, duration, temporal expectation) are explored.
Course Overview
This course focuses on perceptual and cognitive processes that make possible our sound and music sensations. A computational, functional and practical perspective is adopted to organize and develop the concepts, in connection with engineering and computing problems.
The course is offered in 12 weeks, with 25 hours of lectures and seminars. Most of the sessions are devoted to present and discuss the most relevant concepts, data, sound/music examples, experiments and papers related to the topics of the course.
The evaluation of the students is based on lab reports, a course project involving empirical research work, a final written test, and some classroom and online activities. The course involves lab sessions to be carried out individually by each student at their own study time. They require an internet connection in order to download documents, play sounds and answer questionnaires.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of a course on music perception and cognition, students should be able to:
- Define and explain key concepts and theories of music perception and cognition.
- Describe the relationships between acoustic and cognitive processes involved in music perception, e.g., rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre.
- Explain the mechanisms of musical memory and recognition.
- Describe how emotional responses to music relate to cognitive processes.
- Identify and describe cross-cultural differences in music perception and cognition.
- Students are empowered to approach ideas regarding Music and it's relation to Physics, Acoustics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Biology, and Technology.
While given broad exposure to the course topics, specific ideas may be more relevant to each students' creative and academic goals.
Special Topics
Special topics include comparative, evolutionary, and developmental psychology of music perception, biological vs. cultural influences, Gestaltist vs. associationist vs.
Recommended Reading
- Ball, P. (2010). The music instinct: how music works and why we can't do without it.
- Levitin, D. (2007) This is your brain on music: The Science of a Human Obsession.
- Lyon, R.E. (2017). Human and Machine Hearing: Extracting Meaning from Sound.
- Purves, D. (2017). Music as Biology : the Tones We Like and Why.