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Modularity of music processing

Abstract

The music faculty is not a monolithic entity that a person either has or does not. Rather, it comprises a set of neurally isolable processing components, each having the potential to be specialized for music. Here we propose a functional architecture for music processing that captures the typical properties of modular organization. The model rests essentially on the analysis of music-related deficits in neurologically impaired individuals, but provides useful guidelines for exploring the music faculty in normal people, using methods such as neuroimaging.

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Figure 1: A modular model of music processing.

Ivelisse Robles

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Acknowledgements

Based on research supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to I.P. We thank C. Palmer and T. Griffiths for insightful comments made on an earlier draft.

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Correspondence to Isabelle Peretz.

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Peretz, I., Coltheart, M. Modularity of music processing. Nat Neurosci 6, 688–691 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1083

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