EBOOK Music, Language, and the Brain

In the first comprehensive study of the relationship between music and language        from the standpoint of cognitive neuroscience, Aniruddh D. Patel challenges the        widespread belief that music and language are processed independently. Since Plato's        time, the relationship between music and language has attracted interest and debate        from a wide range of thinkers. Recently, scientific research on this topic has been        growing rapidly, as scholars from diverse disciplines, including linguistics,        cognitive science, music cognition, and neuroscience are drawn to the music-language        interface as one way to explore the extent to which different mental abilities are        processed by separate brain mechanisms. Accordingly, the relevant data and theories        have been spread across a range of disciplines. This volume provides the first        synthesis, arguing that music and language share deep and critical connections, and        that comparative research provides a powerful way to study the cognitive and neural        mechanisms underlying these uniquely human abilities.Winner of the 2008 ASCAP Deems        Taylor Award