SAGE Journal Articles

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Isabelle Peretz 
Musical Disorders: From Behavior to Genes 
Current Directions in Psychological Science, October 2008; vol. 17, 5: pp. 329-333.
  • What is congenital amusia, and how does it relate to behavior? How are amusic individuals distinguished from ordinary people?
  • How is pitch related to amusia?
  • Are amusic brains or genetics different from non-amusic individuals?
  • How might amusia relate to tone languages?
Josh H. McDermott 
What Can Experiments Reveal About the Origins of Music? 
Current Directions in Psychological Science, June 2009; vol. 18, 3: pp. 164-168. 
  • How is studying infants useful in determining the biological innateness of music?
  • How have non-human animals different from humans in the recognition of pitch?
  • How can culture influence musical syntax and create expectations of pitch?
  • What is musical rhythm and how does it relate to the possible origins of music?
Sirke Nieminen, Eva Istók, Elvira Brattico, and Mari Tervaniemi 
The development of the aesthetic experience of music: Preference, emotions, and beauty 
Musicae Scientiae November 2012 16: 372-391, first published on August 7, 2012 doi:10.1177/1029864912450454
  • Are musical preferences biologically or environmentally based?
  • How is emotion involved in the experience of music, and how does it relate to the development of musical preferences?
  • What are the aesthetics of music?  How do they relate to emotion and preference?
  • What is the open-earedness hypothesis?