- Copyright Page
- List of Contributors
- The Neuroscientific Study of Music: A Burgeoning Discipline
- Music through the Lens of Cultural Neuroscience
- Cultural Distance: A Computational Approach to Exploring Cultural Influences on Music Cognition
- When Extravagance Impresses: Recasting Esthetics in Evolutionary Terms
- Cerebral Organization of Music Processing
- Network Neuroscience: An Introduction to Graph Theory Network-Based Techniques for Music and Brain Imaging Research
- Acoustic Structure and Musical Function: Musical Notes Informing Auditory Research
- Neural Basis of Rhythm Perception
- Neural Basis of Music Perception: Melody, Harmony, and Timbre
- Multisensory Processing in Music
- Music and Memory
- Music and Attention, Executive Function, and Creativity
- Neural Correlates of Music and Emotion
- Neurochemical Responses to Music
- The Neuroaesthetics of Music: A Research Agenda Coming of Age
- Music and Language
- Musical Expertise and Brain Structure: The Causes and Consequences of Training
- Genomics Approaches for Studying Musical Aptitude and Related Traits
- Brain Research in Music Performance
- Brain Research in Music Improvisation
- Neural Mechanisms of Musical Imagery
- Neuroplasticity in Music Learning
- The Role of Musical Development in Early Language Acquisition
- Rhythm, Meter, and Timing: The Heartbeat of Musical Development
- Music and the Aging Brain
- Music Training and Cognitive Abilities: Associations, Causes, and Consequences
- The Neuroscience of Children on the Autism Spectrum with Exceptional Musical Abilities
- Neurologic Music Therapy in Sensorimotor Rehabilitation
- Neurologic Music Therapy for Speech and Language Rehabilitation
- Neurologic Music Therapy Targeting Cognitive and Affective Functions
- Musical Disorders
- When Blue Turns to Gray: The Enigma of Musician’s Dystonia
- New Horizons for Brain Research in Music
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter sets out a neuroscientific model to explain the exceptional musicianship that characterizes some children on the autism spectrum who have learning difficulties. The model builds on Gaver’s “ecological” interpretation of auditory processing using Ockelford’s “zygonic” theory. This attributes the perception of musical structure to the recognition of intentional repetition, and establishes a hierarchy of music-structural forms of differing complexity that are reflected ontogenetically in children’s musical understanding. The cognition of music is far less neurologically demanding than the processing of language, and is a developmental precursor. In some children on the autism spectrum, auditory development focuses on the perceptual qualities of sounds that in some cases leads to acquisition of “absolute pitch,” and a fascination for the repetitive patterns in sound. The children can process both language and everyday sounds as though they were music. This drives exceptional musical development, but at the cost of language and an appreciation of everyday sounds.
Keywords: ecological hearing, zygonic theory, absolute pitch, repetition, imitation
Adam Ockelford, School of Education, University of Roehampton, London, UK
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- Copyright Page
- List of Contributors
- The Neuroscientific Study of Music: A Burgeoning Discipline
- Music through the Lens of Cultural Neuroscience
- Cultural Distance: A Computational Approach to Exploring Cultural Influences on Music Cognition
- When Extravagance Impresses: Recasting Esthetics in Evolutionary Terms
- Cerebral Organization of Music Processing
- Network Neuroscience: An Introduction to Graph Theory Network-Based Techniques for Music and Brain Imaging Research
- Acoustic Structure and Musical Function: Musical Notes Informing Auditory Research
- Neural Basis of Rhythm Perception
- Neural Basis of Music Perception: Melody, Harmony, and Timbre
- Multisensory Processing in Music
- Music and Memory
- Music and Attention, Executive Function, and Creativity
- Neural Correlates of Music and Emotion
- Neurochemical Responses to Music
- The Neuroaesthetics of Music: A Research Agenda Coming of Age
- Music and Language
- Musical Expertise and Brain Structure: The Causes and Consequences of Training
- Genomics Approaches for Studying Musical Aptitude and Related Traits
- Brain Research in Music Performance
- Brain Research in Music Improvisation
- Neural Mechanisms of Musical Imagery
- Neuroplasticity in Music Learning
- The Role of Musical Development in Early Language Acquisition
- Rhythm, Meter, and Timing: The Heartbeat of Musical Development
- Music and the Aging Brain
- Music Training and Cognitive Abilities: Associations, Causes, and Consequences
- The Neuroscience of Children on the Autism Spectrum with Exceptional Musical Abilities
- Neurologic Music Therapy in Sensorimotor Rehabilitation
- Neurologic Music Therapy for Speech and Language Rehabilitation
- Neurologic Music Therapy Targeting Cognitive and Affective Functions
- Musical Disorders
- When Blue Turns to Gray: The Enigma of Musician’s Dystonia
- New Horizons for Brain Research in Music
- Index