Music cognition is a field of study based in music, psychology, and other disciplines that seeks to develop a better understanding of the cognitive processes involved with producing and hearing music. The field examines issues such as why people produce music, how musical preferences develop, and how understanding and appreciation of music change over time. Memory, emotion, and other important psychological features are also examined in the field of music cognition. Some researchers in music cognition even study the large-scale effects that music can have on societies and cultures.
Much of the research in the field of music cognition starts by examining certain features of music and tries to determine how such features affect human cognition. Musical features such as division of phrases, musical key, and rhythm, for instance, all drastically affect the sound of a given piece of music. Researchers attempt to discover the effects that these musical differences can have on cognition, emotion, memory, and other psychological factors.
In many other cases, researchers start by examining known musical phenomena and try to explain them with knowledge gained from musical and cognitive research. A music cognition researcher may, for instance, study the phenomenon of songs getting "stuck in one's head" in the context of human memory and music theory. Another important and commonly-studied issue in music cognition is how and why music is able to evoke strong emotional responses.
A great deal of research in this field is aimed at developing effective therapy methods based in music. Music has a demonstrable capability to effect emotional and behavioral changes in listeners, though the precise manner in which it does so is not well understood. Developing a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of how and why music has the effects that it does may allow for more effective music-based therapy methods. Composers making music for therapeutic purposes could compose their music based on knowledge of cognition in order to bring about the maximum therapeutic benefits.
Several fields beyond psychology and music have made valuable contributions to the field of music cognition. Linguistics, for instance, is important because of the lyrical content of much music. It may be important to determine if the emotional impact of a song is more strongly linked to the lyrics or to the music or if it arises from some synthesis of the two. Other fields, such as computer science and philosophy, have also made important contributions to music cognition.
