I stumbled into this. My own "fields" are animal behavior and neuroscience. As an undergraduate, some years back, I designed a project using music as a "projective test" (using Holst's, The Planets). (Called the thing an MTAT, for Musical Apperception Test.) Was pretty fascinating trying to comprehend the range of responses to, and interpretations of, the mixture of sounds I constructed. I became convinced that individuals associate with music based upon deeply hidden inner states. I then dropped the project, and went into "science".
Now, these some years later, I have become fascinated once again by the power of music to evoke emotions. I have also become fascinated with the question of "why" music is such a power in human activities. This all sounds like a far cry from my official work on animal behavior (wolves, mice) and the neural control of action. But recently I have begun to wonder how we capture the temporal flow of action more powerfully. I wonder if folks in music have some clues. A few folks are interested in neuroscience and music, but not many.
Perhaps music really does give us basic insights into the temporal flow of mental actions more generally. We have, for fun, recast animal actions into music scores, and some of the results are quite compelling. I should not go on too long.
Here is my question: Does anyone out there know of recent studies attempting to link the ideas of music (melody, rhythm, transposition, etc.) to human actions more generally? Sounds like a silly question, but I do not think it is. When I try to record the essence of human or animal action patterns I often find myself thinking of music. If this comparison makes sense, then perhaps those skilled in musical theory can offer methods that can be used by those of us studying other action patterns, and also help us think about how brains perform their "melodies". Then we can get away from static abstractions of action, none of which is perfect.
I visit this site rarely. If interested, perhaps a copy of replies could be sent to me at fentress@is.dal.ca. I would be very appreciative. Indeed, I think music offers us many issues of dynamic order that are highly relevant to other domains of psychology and neuroscience. Maybe I am off the wall on this one. Thoughts?
Thanks.
John Fentress, Ph.D. Prof. in Psychology & Neuroscience Dalhousie University fentress@is.dal.ca