Modularity in music relative to speech: framing the debate
Isabelle Peretz · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2011
Abstract This chapter presents a response to the commentaries in Chapters 28–31. It addresses the four points raised by Besson and Schön on their comments questioning the usefulness of the modularity frame. Skoe and Kraus provide a useful reminder and compelling case for considering that cortical modules do not function in isolation from subcortical neural systems. They remind us of the importance of top-down processing or corticofugal influences on the early tuning of brainstem responses to auditory input. Goswami draws attention to the role of prosody and rhythm in both music and speech from development and animal cognition. This chapter thanks Goswami for bringing to attention a study in which auditory chimera were created by interchanging sentences for melodies in using the envelope of one sentence or melody and the fine time structure of another.