Neuroscience and musical cognition

Larousse defines cognition as a term referring to the set of psychological structures and activities whose function is knowledge, as opposed to the domains of affectivity. Thus we can define musicality as a natural trait, developing spontaneously, based and constrained by biology and cognition. On the contrary, music can be defined as a social and cultural construct based on this very musicality. However, as stated by Henkjan Honing and Annemie Ploeger in Cognition and the Evolution of Music : Pitfalls and Prospects (Cognition et évolution de la musique: pièges et perspectives) « it is important to separate the biological (or genetic) and cognitive (or functional) aspects that may contribute to musicality. Although it is common to assume that there is a mapping between specific genotypes and specific cognitive traits, more and more studies show that genetically related species can show similar cognitive skills that genetically closer species do not. fail to show (De Waal, 2009). For example, humans and birds seem to share their musicality to a certain level, while humans and chimpanzees do not (Fitch, 2009). »

According to Steven Mithen, professor and specialist in prehistory at the University of Reading, the music would be born from the notion of "cultural identity" appeared with Homo sapiens, "of course, the music of that time was very different from that of today. She did not have the same musicality. It consisted of sounds and rhythms, for example, typing hands or feet. The notion of rhythm develops very early in the human being and seems to be acquired by certain species of birds. It stems from a certain capacity, predisposition, to a complex mode of communication, essentially made up of "vocalises", which will bring to Man the capacity of language.

In humans, social and emotional bonds are fostered and reinforced within a group in part through music, a theory echoed by Robin Ian MacDonald Dunbar, where singing and dancing mimic the neurochemical effects of social grooming of our homin ancestors , such as endorphin release, which have important social consequences. Research over the last century demonstrates several adaptive narratives of music, for example, Charles Darwin believed that music had no advantage over human survival, but suggested that it could play a potential role in reproductive success arguing that musical vocalisations precede language.

The use of music could be described as a technology (non-adaptive point of view), similar to fire control by early humans, with non-negligible biological and cultural consequences. But there remains the dilemma that music comes from either an evolutionary adaptation or a product of culture. Nevertheless, "The uniqueness of music for humans, its universality across cultures, and its early emergence in development are compatible with music as evolutionary adaptation. However, the flexibility and generativity of music and its rapid evolution are compatible with cultural transmission rather than adaptation. According to Trainor, adaptation and cultural transmission underlie the origins of music » (Without it no music: cognition, biology and evolution of musicality).