Characterizing congenital amusia

Lauren Stewart

doi:10.1080/17470218.2011.552730

Characterizing congenital amusia

Lauren Stewart

Department of Clinical Medicine - Center for Music In the Brain

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The ability to make sense of the music in our environment involves sophisticated cognitive mechanisms that, for most people, are acquired effortlessly and in early life. A special population of individuals, with a disorder termed congenital amusia, report lifelong difficulties in this regard. Exploring the nature of this developmental disorder provides a window onto the cognitive architecture of typical musical processing, as well as allowing a study of the relationship between processing of music and other domains, such as language. The present article considers findings concerning pitch discrimination, pitch memory, contour processing, experiential aspects of music listening in amusia, and emerging evidence concerning the neurobiology of the disorder. A simplified model of melodic processing is outlined, and possible loci of the cognitive deficit are discussed.

Original language	English
Journal	Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Volume	64
Issue	4
Pages (from-to)	625-38
Number of pages	14
ISSN	1747-0218
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011.552730
Publication status	Published - Apr 2011

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title = "Characterizing congenital amusia",

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AB - The ability to make sense of the music in our environment involves sophisticated cognitive mechanisms that, for most people, are acquired effortlessly and in early life. A special population of individuals, with a disorder termed congenital amusia, report lifelong difficulties in this regard. Exploring the nature of this developmental disorder provides a window onto the cognitive architecture of typical musical processing, as well as allowing a study of the relationship between processing of music and other domains, such as language. The present article considers findings concerning pitch discrimination, pitch memory, contour processing, experiential aspects of music listening in amusia, and emerging evidence concerning the neurobiology of the disorder. A simplified model of melodic processing is outlined, and possible loci of the cognitive deficit are discussed.

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Characterizing congenital amusia

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