Schema and Gestalt: Testing the Hypothesis of Psychoneural Isomorphism by Computer Simulation

The hypothesis of psychoneural isomorphism assumes a correspondence between mental representations of perceived phenomena and brain-states or cortical representations. This hypothesis is tested by means of a computer simulation of perceptual learning of context-dependent pitch. The method is based on an ecological modelling technique which is related to the Gestalt notion of molar behavior. A large scale computer simulation has been set up in which a physiological model is confronted with the strains and stresses of a realistic musical environment, in particular a sound recording of J.S.Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. The simulation suggests that the hypothesis of psychoneural isomorphism is a valid one. It predicts a particular schema or functional organization of neurons specialized in context-dependent pitch processing at the cortical level.

[1]  Marc Leman,et al.  Music and Schema Theory , 1995 .

[2]  K. Koffka.  Principles Of Gestalt Psychology , 1936 .

[3]  Marc Leman,et al.  The convergence paradigm, ecological modelling, and context-dependent pitch perception , 1997 .

[4]  P. Moisala,et al.  Cognitive Study of Music as Culture.: Basic Premises for "Cognitive Ethnomusicology". , 1995 .

[5]  Albert S. Bregman,et al.  The Auditory Scene. (Book Reviews: Auditory Scene Analysis. The Perceptual Organization of Sound.) , 1990 .

[6]  Herbert Bruhn,et al.  Harmonielehre als Grammatik der Musik : propositionale Schemata in Musik und Sprache , 1988 .

[7]  W. Köhler.  Die physischen Gestalten in Ruhe und im stationären Zustand : eine naturphilosophische Untersuchung , 1920 .

[8]  Marc Leman,et al.  Distributed Parallel Architectures for the Simulation of Cognitive Models in a Realistic Environment , 1995, PARCO.

[9]  C. Krumhansl.  Cognitive Foundations of Musical Pitch , 1990 .

[10]  E. Terhardt,et al.  Algorithm for extraction of pitch and pitch salience from complex tonal signals , 1982 .

[11]  Petr Janata,et al.  ERP Measures Assay the Degree of Expectancy Violation of Harmonic Contexts in Music , 1995, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[12]  Michael A. Arbib,et al.  The handbook of brain theory and neural networks , 1995, A Bradford book.

[13]  Gerald Langner,et al.  Coding of temporal patterns in the central auditory nervous system , 1988 .

[14]  Michael A. Arbib,et al.  Schema theory , 1998 .

[15]  R. Shepard,et al.  Second-order isomorphism of internal representations: Shapes of states ☆ , 1970 .

[16]  Anil K. Jain,et al.  A non-linear projection method based on Kohonen's topology preserving maps , 1992, Proceedings., 11th IAPR International Conference on Pattern Recognition. Vol.II. Conference B: Pattern Recognition Methodology and Systems.

[17]  Gerald Langner,et al.  Temporal processing of pitch in the auditory system , 1997 .

[18]  Gerald Langner,et al.  Periodicity coding in the auditory system , 1992, Hearing Research.

[19]  R. Shepard.  Circularity in Judgments of Relative Pitch , 1964 .

[20]  Gerald M. Edelman,et al.  Auditory function : neurobiological bases of hearing , 1988 .

[21]  Marc Leman,et al.  Music and Schema Theory : Cognitive Foundations of Systematic Musicology , 1995 .

[22]  J P Martens,et al.  Pitch and voiced/unvoiced determination with an auditory model. , 1992, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[23]  Eckart Scheerer,et al.  Psychoneural isomorphism: Historical background and current relevance , 1994 .

[24]  Teuvo Kohonen,et al.  Self-Organizing Maps , 2010 .

[25]  O. Reiser,et al.  Principles Of Gestalt Psychology , 1936 .

[26]  Anil K. Jain,et al.  A nonlinear projection method based on Kohonen's topology preserving maps , 1992, IEEE Trans. Neural Networks.