Reflections on the Musical Mind: An Evolutionary Perspective

Description

What's so special about music? We experience it internally, yet at the same time it is highly social. Music engages our cognitive/affective and sensory systems. We use music to communicate with one another--and even with other species--the things that we cannot express through language. Music is both ancient and ever evolving. Without music, our wo

Jay Schulkin is Research Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and member at the Center for the Brain Basis of Cognition, both at Georgetown University. He is the author of numerous books, including "Roots of Social Sensibility and Neural Function", "Bodily Sensibility: Intelligent Action", "Cognitive Adaptation: A Pragmatist Perspective", and "Adaptation and Well-Being: Social Allostasis".

"[F]ascinating ... wise and welcome."--Michael Quinn, Classical Music "For neuroscientist Jay Schulkin, music provides an enjoyable but at times testing workout for the brain, much as sport does for the body. Indeed, for him, listening to music is a microcosm of living one's life. In Reflections on the Musical Mind, he reminds us that we live in a world of uncertainty, always needing to predict the future with imprecise, or absent, information. So evolution has honed us to make judgments based on aesthetics, and to find slight deviations from the familiar--especially in music--both interesting and attractive."--New Scientist