Cognitive Psychology 2

Dr Sarah Wilson
Room 603, Redmond Barry Building
Consultation: Monday, 12-1pm

Overview
Lecture 1: How does language relate to other
cognitive domains?
Lecture 2: How do we represent knowledge?
Lecture 3: How does cognition relate to
emotion?

Assumptions about cognition

Cognitive capacities can be partitioned such
that individual capacities can be studied in
isolation
e.g., language can be studied in isolation from
memory

Cognitive capacities are relatively

autonomous from noncognitive capacities
e.g., affect, motivation
(Braisby & Gellatly, 2005)

Assumptions about cognition

Our understanding of cognition must be
constrained by the findings of neuroscience
It is useful (and meaningful) to distinguish
normal from abnormal cognition
damaged systems allow us to infer how normal
systems work
isolable damage = modularity of function
Neuropsychological cases showing a double dissociation
of function are taken to support the modularity of cognitive
domains

(Braisby & Gellatly, 2005)

Double dissociation of
function
Performance
Case 1

Case 2

Task:

Cognitive architecture
The vertical (modular) view
Mental faculties are
(a) domain specific
(b) genetically determined
(c) neurologically distinct
Franz Joseph Gall - phrenology
Jerry Fodor (1983)
The Modularity of Mind
Image from www.kshs.org

Cognitive architecture

Fodors account of modularity

The mind has 3 types of systems:
1. Sensory transducers
2. Modular input systems
3. Non-modular central systems

Image from
ruccs.rutgers.edu

Cognitive architecture
Modular input systems
Fast operation speed
Fixed neural architecture
Characteristic and specific
patterns of breakdown
Characteristic rate and sequence
of development

Image from
ruccs.rutgers.edu

Cognitive architecture
Modular input systems

Information encapsulation

Domain specificity
Shallow output
Mandatory operation
Limited central access to mental
representations they compute

Image from
ruccs.rutgers.edu

 The Ponzo illusion:

Image from www3.sympatico.ca

Cognitive architecture
Modular input systems

Information encapsulation

Domain specificity
Shallow output
Mandatory operation
Limited central access to mental
representations they compute

Image from
ruccs.rutgers.edu

A modular model of music processing

Derived from lesion studies (Peretz & Coltheart, 2003)
e.g., tune identification

What is the relationship

between music and
language processing?
Are there neural correlates
for these modules?

Green boxes = music specificity

Italics = ? Specificity to music

Cognitive architecture
The horizontal view
Mental faculties are not domain specific
Mental processes interact between
faculties that are not domain specific
Some possible candidates: attention, working memory
function, judgment, problem solving and decision making
Are these Fodors nonmodular central systems?

The debate continues

So, how does language, and its basis

in auditory processing, relate to other
domains?
Some specific comparisons:
- are there shared perceptual processes
underpinning vision and audition?
- are there shared cognitive processes
underpinning language and music?

Broad framework
Sensation
sensori-neural encoding of incoming
physical information

Perception
transforming and interpreting sensory
information to construct meaningful
percepts

Higher level cognition

The role of perception is to:

extract meaning from the
continuously changing, often chaotic
sensory input from external energy
sources and organise it into stable,
orderly percepts.
(Zimbardo & Gerrig, 2002, p.133)

Percept
- the phenomenological outcome
of the process of perception
- it is a psychological entity

Broad framework
Sensation
sensori-neural encoding of
incoming physical information

Perception
transforming and interpreting
sensory information to construct
meaningful percepts

Higher level cognition

Perception
Perceptual organisation
Auditory scene analysis
Visual scene analysis

Identification and recognition

Sound identification and recognition
Object identification and recognition

Visual scene analysis

The accurate allocation of regions to
objects allows correct representations
of the visual world to be formed
In this case, emergent properties
accurately reflect the properties of
individual objects in the environment
failed visual scene analysis leads to
chimerical perceptions

Auditory scene analysis

Some background
A complex tone is composed of a fundamental
frequency and upper partials

The fundamental frequency corresponds to the

pitch of the tone

Auditory Scene Analysis

The accurate allocation of frequency
components to sounds allows correct
representations of the auditory world to be
formed
This involves issues such as:
How many sound sources have created the acoustic milleau?
Does a discontinuity in the spectrogram represent a change in one
sound or a disruption by a second sound?
Should two (or more) frequencies occurring simultaneously be
grouped as a single complex timbre or two (or more) separate
simple timbres?

Principles of perceptual
organisation
The principle of exclusive allocation
Based on the fundamental principle of
belongingness
sensory elements are properties of a percept

A sensory element should not belong to

more than one percept at any given time
e.g., the vase-faces illusion

Principles of perceptual
organisation
The principle of perceptual completion
or closure
Most relevant when the perceptual
environment is ambiguous or incomplete
e.g., camouflage

Use of top-down processing to make

inferences about the environment
Knowledge gained from evolution and learning

Principles of perceptual
organisation
The principle of common fate
Elements that move together are most likely
connected
Bregman (2002)
Visual domain: apparent motion
Auditory domain: auditory streaming
the Gestalt grouping principles are the principles of
scene analysis

(Shepard & Levitin, 2002)

Comparing auditory &

visual perception
Audition and vision extract different
forms of energy from the environment
Emitting versus reflective properties
Audition: sound-emitting properties
Vision: light-reflecting properties
In this way, audition supplements vision

How is language related to other

domains?
Music and language cognition represent the
higher cognitive domains of the auditory
system
What are the shared versus independent
processes in language and music functions?
Perception
Cognition
Brain organisation

The modularity debate continues

Early research
Cases of aphasia and amusia
e.g., Singing by speechless (aphasic) children
(Jackson, 1871)
Song is a form of nonpropositional speech

Propositional speech
An intentional expression of thought

Nonpropositional speech

Ready-made utterances, may express emotion only

Conventionalised, context dependent
No syntactic parsing
No conscious formulation of a semantic message

Early research
Cases of aphasia and amusia
cases with both amusia and aphasia; 38%
cases with amusia without aphasia; 22%
musicians with aphasia but spared musical
abilities have also been reported
The findings have been used to support both the colocation and separate representation of music and
language functions within the brain
(Marin, 1999)

Comparing music and language

Universal in human society
Both show specific and relatively fixed
developmental trajectories
e.g., receptive skills precede productive skills

Higher cognitive domains

most developed in humans compared to other
species
most cognitively complex use of sound by humans

Comparing music and language

Engage creative processes
infinite number of valid sentences or
melodies

Susceptible to encoding in a symbol

system
historic recording of literary and musical
works

Comparing music and language

Receptive and expressive domains
Receptive domain:
designed from a core of basic acoustic elements:
speech - phonemes
music - tones

rule-based permutations allow meaningful structures to be

created from these elements:
speech - words
music - motives or melodies

further hierarchical organisation:

speech - sentences
music - songs

Comparing music and language

Phonology
the way a potentially infinite number of sounds are
constructed into distinct sound categories to constitute basic
communicative units

Syntax
the way the units are combined into sequences

Semantics
the way meaning is conveyed by the sequences

Comparing music and language

Phonology
Time scale
Perception of phonemes and tones relies on
spectral and temporal components of sound
Zatorre, Belin & Penhune (2002):
Spectral and temporal components of the
auditory signal involve competing perceptual
processes

Comparing music and language

Phonology
Zatorre et al (2002):
Speech requires fast temporal processing (~2050ms)
Music requires slower, fine-grained spectral
processing (~150-250 ms)
Specialisation of speech and music to the left
and right cerebral hemispheres respectively is an
epiphenomenon of the temporal and spectral
features of sound

Implications for modularity

Comparing music and language

Syntax
Time scale
Syntax changes more rapidly in time in music
than language
Syntactical rules may be broken in music for
creative effect but would likely interfere with the
semantics of language

Comparing music and language

Semantics
The structure of music and language
Language: Noam Chomsky (1957-)
Music: Heinrich Schenker (1920s)

Surface structure and deep structure

context sensitive grammars
language: generative
music: reductionistic
Urlinie and Bassbrechung Ursatz

Comparing music and language

Comparison of Chomsky & Schenker:
Deep structure:
Generative versus reductionistic
Grammatical conformity
Timeframe
Semantic possibilities

Comparing music and language

Semantics
Alternate view: Bernstein (1976)
The semantics of music is the natural result of
adding phonology and syntax together
Music is a metaphorical language, like poetry
e.g., Juliet is the sun (pp.123-124)

How does language relate to other

cognitive domains?
Similar grouping principles across modalities
e.g., auditory and visual scene analysis
do these represent shared processes?

Different use of perceptual information within

a modality
e.g., language versus music
does this represent functional independence?

More research is required to understand the

complexities of these relationships