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Developmental music cognition is a domain of music cognition that is concerned with the evolutionary processes by which humans acquired the abilities to produce, perceive, and mentally process musical phenomenon. It also explores the development of these abilities in the individual (starting from infancy), as well as the neurological basis for these abilities.

Methods of Study
The study of music cognition was initially a subject explored in psycholinguistics, but now also includes broader disciplines, especially those sub-disciplines of cognitive science: neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and computer science. This research is combined with anthropology and sociocultural-anthropology to try to understand the environmental and social pressures that led the human brain to develop musical abilities, and how the brain processes musical information.

Evolutionary Origins
Studies of early human evolution cannot determine the precise time or reason for the development musical ability, but there are theories that may explain how some of the specific components of music came about. One is that with the onset of bipedalism in early hominids, a cognitive mechanism for time-keeping developed to improve the coordination required for bipedal locomotion. Increased complexity of movement (e.g. using arms for other tasks while walking) invoked increasing refinement of time-keeping abilities; this function may have been the precursor to musical rhythm. Other theories suggest that musical development was a product of sexual selection, or a tool for social bonding.

Language of Emotion
Emotion is important aspect of human and social development. Music is universally recognized as having the power to influence one’s emotions. It is known to be therapeutic, relaxing, stress reducing – it can induce emotional states in oneself and others. In early times, those who inherited the genes for musical abilities had an evolutionary advantage: manipulation of others’ emotional states. This advantage would give one an upper hand in their social group, making it more likely for them to pass on their genes. Music can have a strong influence on how one thinks and behaves. It can make people happier and more creative; these results come from many studies, and are commonly known as the Mozart effect.

Infant Development
Babies demonstrate greater interest in rhythms and melodies than language during their first few years. This is one explanation behind infant directed speech (IDS), or ‘motherese’. IDS is universal; most people will automatically engage a baby with IDS, even if they have no exposure to infants. IDS is characterized by heightened, wider pitch range, short phrases, repetition. This helps to prepare them to understand prosody, as well as sound elements. IDS is like a mixture of singing and talking. Another universal feature is singing to infants – it controls their mood and increases the child’s sense of well-being. The better-adjusted child will have an advantage over other children who may be less comfortable in their infancy.

Pathology & Modularity
Studies involving people with amusia and aphasia, which affect the ability to process elements of music or language respectively, show that there is not just a single system for processing speech and music. People can have cognitive deficits that affect their ability to perceive some aspects of music yet retain full language abilities, or vice versa. In cases of more selective amusia there are people that can, for example, recognize a melody but be unable to tap out its rhythm. These results indicate that the brain’s music processing system is composed of separate modules that are separate from the language processing system, and each module pertains to a specific musical function (see fig. 1). Some of these neural resources may be shared however, such as for detecting pitch contours and prosody (which are closely related). Also, the area of the brain that processes syntax in speech, Broca's area, has been found to process the structural elements of music. Brain imaging studies have found that some brain structures related to music processing are larger in musicians than in non-musicians (i.e. posterior superior temporal gyrus).

Applications
Since musical processing has strong ties with language processing, and perhaps with other areas of cognition as well (such as motor-control), its study would be valuable to the cognitive sciences. The cognitive mechanisms that are shared with language could be better understood, and perhaps the origin of language itself could be in part explained by research into early musical development.

Related Links

 * Evolutionary Psychology
 * Music Psychology
 * Evolutionary Biology
 * Developmental Psychology
 * Modularity of Mind