Browsing by Author "Rummukainen, Ossi"

The embodied nature of music cognition is a growing topic in the field of music cognition. The aim of this study is to understand the paradigm of embodied music cognition. It’s a selective review on the paradigm’s ontological assumptions, some key point of views and relevant empirical evidence supporting the main claims within the field. Hopefully, this paper gives the reader a good introduction into the theoretical and empirical work within the field of embodied music cognition. It’s suited for all scholars and students working in nearby fields. Google Scholar was used in the literature search and “embodied music cognition” was used as a keyword. The main sources were review articles by the most important scholars in the field and the associated empirical literature. Embodied approach to music cognition emphasizes the coupling of action and perception. The role of the human body is seen to be a mediator between the environment and the brain. There is empirical support for various effects of the motor system to music perception and vice versa. A special focus is also given to the multilayered interaction between all the elements from which the “musical mind” emerges, namely, the mind, the body, music and social context. This interactionist view of cognition utilizes insights from dynamical systems theory. Lastly, a novel framework is reviewed that integrates the embodied approach with a more classical predictive coding paradigm under the concept of joint agency. The framework claims music to be, metaphorically, an embodied language. The field of embodied music cognition is quickly growing and the future is assumed to be interdisciplinary since the nature of music cognition is highly complex.