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Music and the Brain

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to illustrate how studying music from a neuroscience perspective may be a valuable way to probe a variety of complex cognitive functions and their neural substrate. Three different sets of issues are described. First, studies dealing with the brain correlates of musical imagery are discussed. This topic is of interest in that it illustrates how subjective sensations may be studied via objective techniques, and gives insight into neural systems associated with internal phenomena. Second, some findings pertaining to absolute pitch are presented. Absolute pitch is a useful example of a highly specific cognitive skill that is unevenly distributed in the population. Examination of its neural basis helps to understand aspects of memory function and points to ways to explore individual differences in brain organization that underlie differential skills. The final topic, music and emotion, has not been the subject of much systematic research, but it is of great interest because it intersects with a large literature on the neuroscience of affective processing. Findings from some studies indicate that music may engage systems concerned with biological reward, raising interesting but so far unanswered questions about the broader role of music in human experience.