Music, Language, and the Brain

by Aniruddh D. Patel

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Author: Aniruddh D. Patel

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0195123751
ISBN 13: 978-0195123753

In the first comprehensive study of the relationship between music and language from the standpoint of cognitive neuroscience, Aniruddh D. Patel challenges the widespread belief that music and language are processed independently. Since Plato's time, the relationship between music and language has attracted interest and debate from a wide range of thinkers. Recently, scientific research on this topic has been growing rapidly, as scholars from diverse disciplines, including linguistics, cognitive science, music cognition, and neuroscience are drawn to the music-language interface as one way to explore the extent to which different mental abilities are processed by separate brain mechanisms. Accordingly, the relevant data and theories have been spread across a range of disciplines. This volume provides the first synthesis, arguing that music and language share deep and critical connections, and that comparative research provides a powerful way to study the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying these uniquely human abilities.

Winner of the 2008 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award.

Review

" A major synthesis that will be indispensable to neuroscientists, and a thought-provoking and illuminating exploration of the mental and neural foundations of music and language for anyone interested in the human brain."--Oliver Sacks

"This book is an intellectual tour de force, raising many more issues than recent popular works...Patel offers a thorough analysis of music cognition and its relation to language, and outlines an ambitious and innovative research programme that deepens our understanding of cognition in general...A work of exceptional scholarship and clarity."--Nature

"This book is a fabulous guide to what can sometimes be an inaccessible body of literature. Although popular books on this subject abound, Patel has provided an up-to-date and authoritative academic treatment...Music, Language, and the Brain is an impressive feat of scholarship and comes highly recommended."--Nature Neuroscience

"Patel's dissection of the multiple components of language and music cognition is elegant and deeply knowledgeable. His writing achieves a masterly balance. On the one hand he is bold and creative in uncovering and explaining important phenomena that link language and music. On the other hand he displays true scientific humility in refusing to speculate too far beyond the known facts. In a subject area prone to superficiality and overstatement, Patel is a sure and trustworthy guide for how to make real progress in understanding these complex but fascinating phenomena."--John Sloboda, Professor of Psychology, Keele University

"This book will be required reading for specialists, and interesting and informative reading for everyone. It manages to combine remarkable breadth of coverage with genuine depth of understanding, and it's clearly and elegantly written. The author has a clear point of view and wants to get it across to other researchers, but never lets that get in the way of the book's more fundamental goal of putting the latest research within the reach of the interested non-specialist reader."--D.R. Ladd, Professor of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh

"Reading Patel's Music, Language, and the Brain is a deeply rewarding experience. The question of whether parallels exist between music and language has until now been a question of wide interest and speculation. This landmark monograph provides a detailed and informed framework for examining this question scientifically. The presentation presumes no prior specialized knowledge and offers clear explanations of the technical ideas necessary inspiring agenda for future research, ranging from intriguing speculations to carefully-worked out experimental designs.Music, Language, and the Brain will shape and inform research on the relationship between music and language for decades to come."--Carol L. Krumhansl, Prof. of Psychology, Cornell University

"...a wide-ranging, well-researched and highly readable exploration...Patel's book is the most scholarly and comprehensive account of the topic yet published. It should be of special interest not only to music psychologists and phonologists but also to other linguists who want to expand their horizons."--Trends in Cognitive Sciences

"Written by a first-rate scientist, Music, Language and the Brain is the most comprehensive and clear treatment of the sometimes patchwork body of knowledge exploring music and language comparisons within music psychology and neuroscience. Patel's book makes an immediate and important contribution to the vast array of literature in this area by bringing it together in a single source. It is all the more impressive because of the author's ability to present this complex web of scholarship in a very logical and highly readable style...I am certain I will find myself returning to this resource many times."--Steven M. Demorest for Empirical Musicology Review

"The book is dense, but not heavy, clear but not simple, rich but not arrogant. It is the type of book that needs to be discussed with other people, to savor, sip by sip, like a 10-year old Bourgogne."--Music Perception

"What's great about this volume is that it provides an all-in-one compendium of a huge amount of information, nicely organized, with appropriate illustrations, and lavishly referenced throughout...Overall, this is a highly recommended read. It is stimulating and wide-ranging and contains material that readers of many backgrounds and levels will find interesting."--Neuron

"Aniruddh Patel's book, Music, Language and the Brain, manages to be both admirably readable and also scholarly. Whilst there are other books dealing rigorously with the perceptual and cognitive aspects of language and music as separate topics, few, if any, authors have successfully tackled the task of exploring the overlap between the cognitive and neural mechanisms of these two uniquely human domains. Patel takes on the challenge of providing not only accurate coverage of exisiting research in the fields of language and music, but also a much needed synthesis that throws new light on the links between the two....Patel's research ideas could keep a battalion of investigators busy for the next decade.... It sets a gold standard for authors aiming to write a wide-ranging, yet not over-technical book which is comprehensible and without having sacrificed intellectual integrity in the search for glib generalizations."--Brain

"A scientific tour de force.... Monumental in scope and in proportion, the value of this volume as an academic resource is immense. A vast amount of research is packed into its 513 pages and Patel demonstrates perspicacity and clarity of expression throughout... Music, Language, and the Brain makes a profound scientific contribution to the study of music and language...no other single source equips readers more thoroughly to explore the cognitive intersection between these two domains."--Psychology of Music

"...Music, Language and the Brain reaches far and ranges wide, its themes and arguments irreducible to the sum of prior formulations on the "music of language" and the "language of music." Seldom does one encounter so voluminous a repertory of empirical evidence so deftly marshaled by so communicative an intellect."--Notes

"....this book is an accessible and invaluable resource....In an age of lip service to interdisciplinarity, Patel rolls up his sleeves and starts building bridges, not just among the subdisciplines of cognitive science, but also between the science and humanities. I recommend this book enthusiastically as a guide to language and music in the brain and mind, and as a model of integrative thinking."--Reviewed by Daniel Casasanto, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, in Language and Cognition

The strength of Patel's book is its ability to provide in-depth studies of music and linguistic cognition in a manner that illustrates both their interconnectedness and their differences. Any student of music theory would benefit from Patel's explanations of mental processing of music and its theoretical foundations; any student of linguistic theory would benefit from his neurological analogies. As the study of music cognition continues to grow, the present work will become an increasingly important resource."--Music Theory Online

"Music, Language, and the Brain provides a fascinating synopsis of the current, young state of scientific research in cross-domain language--music comparative study. The book traverses with ease the disciplinary lines of linguistics, music and neuroscience. This impressive work of scholarship will serve as a reference on the topics for years to come."-Phonology

About the Author

Aniruddh D. Patel is past president of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition and is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Tufts University.

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Music, Language, and the Brain