This historical-scientific introduction to Cognitive Musicology introduces the 150
years of research and discoveries in the psychology of music that partly presuppose the
more recent discipline of Cognitive Musicology. Atomistic, Gestalt, functionalist, testing,
behaviorist, cognitive, and neuroscience approaches to the psychological mechanisms
underlying music are presented. Thus, it is argued that Cognitive Musicology is
partly based on firm historical traditions in the psychology of music. Also discussed is
the way in which the combination of interdisciplinary methods from the humanities
and the natural sciences, which is integrated in Cognitive Musicology, may minimize
the limitations of the separate humanities-based or natural science methods.