Language, Music, and the Brain: A Mysterious Relationship (Strüngmann Forum Reports)

A presentation of music and language within an integrative, embodied perspective of brain mechanisms for action, emotion, and social coordination.

This book explores the relationships between language, music, and the brain by pursuing four key themes and the crosstalk among them: song and dance as a bridge between music and language; multiple levels of structure from brain to behavior to culture; the semantics of internal and external worlds and the role of emotion; and the evolution and development of language. The book offers specially commissioned expositions of current research accessible both to experts across disciplines and to non-experts. These chapters provide the background for reports by groups of specialists that chart current controversies and future directions of research on each theme.

The book looks beyond mere auditory experience, probing the embodiment that links speech to gesture and music to dance. The study of the brains of monkeys and songbirds illuminates hypotheses on the evolution of brain mechanisms that support music and language, while the study of infants calibrates the developmental timetable of their capacities. The result is a unique book that will interest any reader seeking to learn more about language or music and will appeal especially to readers intrigued by the relationships of language and music with each other and with the brain.

Contributors
Francisco Aboitiz, Michael A. Arbib, Annabel J. Cohen, Ian Cross, Peter Ford Dominey, W. Tecumseh Fitch, Leonardo Fogassi, Jonathan Fritz, Thomas Fritz, Peter Hagoort, John Halle, Henkjan Honing, Atsushi Iriki, Petr Janata, Erich Jarvis, Stefan Koelsch, Gina Kuperberg, D. Robert Ladd, Fred Lerdahl, Stephen C. Levinson, Jerome Lewis, Katja Liebal, Jônatas Manzolli, Bjorn Merker, Lawrence M. Parsons, Aniruddh D. Patel, Isabelle Peretz, David Poeppel, Josef P. Rauschecker, Nikki Rickard, Klaus Scherer, Gottfried Schlaug, Uwe Seifert, Mark Steedman, Dietrich Stout, Francesca Stregapede, Sharon Thompson-Schill, Laurel Trainor, Sandra E. Trehub, Paul Verschure

Michael Arbib has played a leading role at the interface of neuroscience and computer science ever since his first book, Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. From Neuron to Cognition provides a worthy pedagogical sequel to his widely acclaimed Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks. After thirty years at University of Southern California he is now pursuing interests in “how the brain got language” and “neuroscience for architecture” in San Diego.

Michael Arbib has played a leading role at the interface of neuroscience and computer science ever since his first book, Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. From Neuron to Cognition provides a worthy pedagogical sequel to his widely acclaimed Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks. After thirty years at University of Southern California he is now pursuing interests in “how the brain got language” and “neuroscience for architecture” in San Diego.

Stephen C. Levinson is Director of the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands.

Michael Arbib has played a leading role at the interface of neuroscience and computer science ever since his first book, Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. From Neuron to Cognition provides a worthy pedagogical sequel to his widely acclaimed Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks. After thirty years at University of Southern California he is now pursuing interests in “how the brain got language” and “neuroscience for architecture” in San Diego.

Mark Steedman is Professor of Cognitive Science in the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Surface Structure and Interpretation (1996) and The Syntactic Process (2000), both published by the MIT Press.

Peter Hagoort is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Director of the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

David Poeppel is Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, and Director of the Department of Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics.

Frd Lerdahl is Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University.

Peter Hagoort is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Director of the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Henkjan Honing is Professor of Music Cognition at the University of Amsterdam and editor of The Origins of Musicality (MIT Press).

Frd Lerdahl is Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University.

Stephen C. Levinson is Director of the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands.

Mark Steedman is Professor of Cognitive Science in the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Surface Structure and Interpretation (1996) and The Syntactic Process (2000), both published by the MIT Press.

Michael Arbib has played a leading role at the interface of neuroscience and computer science ever since his first book, Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. From Neuron to Cognition provides a worthy pedagogical sequel to his widely acclaimed Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks. After thirty years at University of Southern California he is now pursuing interests in “how the brain got language” and “neuroscience for architecture” in San Diego.

David Poeppel is Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, and Director of the Department of Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics.

Michael Arbib has played a leading role at the interface of neuroscience and computer science ever since his first book, Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. From Neuron to Cognition provides a worthy pedagogical sequel to his widely acclaimed Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks. After thirty years at University of Southern California he is now pursuing interests in “how the brain got language” and “neuroscience for architecture” in San Diego.

Björn Merker is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Biomusicology at Mid Sweden University, Östersund.