Representation, prediction and music

Authors

  • Juan Fernando Anta Universidad Nacional de La Plata

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21932/epistemus.2.2712.0

Keywords:

mental representation, symbol, action, prediction, music

Abstract

Mental representations are a central issue in the field of Cognitive Psychology. The present study addressed three questions about this issue, specifically related to music cognition: i) What is the origin of representations?; ii) How do they relate to external reality; and iii) What are they for? In this way, the relationships between representations and the body-mind system, representations and reality, and representations and their psychological functions will be analyzed. It is argued that the ‘what for’, or the psychological function, is the key aspect of mental representations, and also of musical representations. More precisely, it is proposed that, regardless of how they are formed, representations are oriented towards the future, and that their predictive power is the very cause of their psychological existence. One clear example of this would be the representations that listeners use to anticipate the course of music, which, when violated, would promote the affective content of musical experience.

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Published

2013-12-29

How to Cite

Anta, J. F. (2013). Representation, prediction and music. Epistemus. Journal of Studies in Music, Cognition & Culture, 2(1), 23–50. https://doi.org/10.21932/epistemus.2.2712.0

Issue

Section

Monográficos