Language, Vision and Music

Book excerpt: Language, vision and music: what common cognitive patterns underlie our competence in these disparate modes of thought? Language (natural & formal), vision and music seem to share at least the following attributes: a hierarchical organisation of constituents, recursivity, metaphor, the possibility of self-reference, ambiguity, and systematicity. Can we propose the existence of a general symbol system with instantiations in these three modes or is the only commonality to be found at the level of such entities as cerebral columnar automata? Answers are to be found in this international collection of work which recognises that one of the basic features of consciousness is its MultiModality, that there are possibilities to model this with contemporary technology, and that cross-cultural commonalities in the experience of, and creativity within, the various modalities are significant. With the advent of Intelligent MultiMedia this aspect of consciousness implementation in mind/brain acquires new significance. (Series B)