Principles of music perception

Human musicality is supported by two distinct systems of representation: one for tonal perception, which contextualizes pitch input in reference to a hierarchy of tones; and one for metrical perception, which contextualizes temporal input in reference to a hierarchy of rhythmic groupings. The two systems are automatic, encapsulated, early-developing, and are supported by distinct neural correlates. Growing evidence suggests that the systems are human universals. But like speech perception, and unlike several other perceptual systems, they are uniquely human. The systems of tonal and metrical perception form a foundational structure for musicality that, when combined with the processing of other acoustical information (e.g., timbre, auditory scenes), and applied in conjunction with other cognitive domains, yields a human psychology of music.