Musicality: Instinct or Acquired Skill?

Gary F. Marcus

doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01220.x

Musicality: Instinct or Acquired Skill?

Gary F. Marcus

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Is the human tendency toward musicality better thought of as the product of a specific, evolved instinct or an acquired skill? Developmental and evolutionary arguments are considered, along with issues of domain-specificity. The article also considers the question of why humans might be consistently and intensely drawn to music if musicality is not in fact the product of a specifically evolved instinct.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	498-512
Number of pages	15
Journal	Topics in Cognitive Science
Volume	4
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01220.x
State	Published - Oct 2012

Keywords

Cognitive development
Evolution
Innateness
Instinct
Music
Musicality
Skill learning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Linguistics and Language
Human-Computer Interaction
Cognitive Neuroscience
Artificial Intelligence

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10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01220.x

Cite this

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Musicality: Instinct or Acquired Skill?

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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