Musical Scores of Brain Activity: Why Sonification?
In his article "Mind as Music," Lloyd argues that neuroscientists have used language as the controlling metaphor for analyzing, discussing, and conceptualizing brain activity. However, he suggests that "language tokens are sequential; [while] magnetic resonance signals are separable into multiple simultaneous signals" and can be better conceptualized through music (Lloyd 2011). Music, Lloyd argues, is a more appropriate and revealing way to analyze fMRI data; the sonification of fMRI scans can help us understand how the brain works by letting us experience the networks that link brain regions, and allowing us to hear the complexity of brain activity. Brain activity, he contends, is structured musically.
The neuroscientific benefits of this kind of analysis are clear: assigning musical values to the data that emerges from the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a way of further analyzing the data to acknowledge our interpretive capacities, the way we process information contextually and in time, and the way we use numerous parts of the brain to process what we see and hear. Studies of spectatorship benefit from this kind of analysis for all the same reasons. Additionally, however, rather than isolating a single component of spectatorship (e.g., how we process and react to expressions of fear in a particular part of the brain), Lloyd's techniques might allow us to understand how spectators process numerous affective signals from facial expression, body language, and vocal coloration in numerous parts of the brain. This is closer to the way that spectators process and respond to affective stimuli in "real life" situations.
Sonification, Lloyd says, allows us to hear the "overall dynamic picture of the brain in action." While "there are continuities, [and] there are at all times some components that are on in a relatively steady state, […] there is always dynamism, there is always change." It would be an oversimplification, he says, "to make any claims about the functional job of any one of these components." This explains why sonification is an important tool for understanding brain activity: "Musical sound may represent something fundamental and distinctive about brain function" (Lloyd 2013a).
I am hearing the score of Chavez's brain activity. Lloyd claims that this is "consciousness itself." I would argue this is "spectatorship itself." However, I am actually listening to Lloyd's analysis of Chavez's brain activity rendered musically.
Many neuroscientists use fMRI data to study the function of a particular part of the brain. Lloyd argues that these experiments are misleading because they do not take into account multiple simultaneous signals, the involvement of multiple brain regions, the function of time, or our interpretation of what we see and hear based on context and past experience:
What we need, Lloyd maintains, is a new conceptual framework for understanding brain activity, and new methods of data analysis that take into account the complex structures of the brain, our interpretive capacities, and time.
What we need, Lloyd maintains, is a new conceptual framework for understanding brain activity, and new methods of data analysis that take into account the complex structures of the brain, our interpretive capacities, and time.
The neuroscientific benefits of this kind of analysis are clear: assigning musical values to the data that emerges from the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a way of further analyzing the data to acknowledge our interpretive capacities, the way we process information contextually and in time, and the way we use numerous parts of the brain to process what we see and hear. Studies of spectatorship benefit from this kind of analysis for all the same reasons. Additionally, however, rather than isolating a single component of spectatorship (e.g., how we process and react to expressions of fear in a particular part of the brain), Lloyd's techniques might allow us to understand how spectators process numerous affective signals from facial expression, body language, and vocal coloration in numerous parts of the brain. This is closer to the way that spectators process and respond to affective stimuli in "real life" situations.
Sonification, Lloyd says, allows us to hear the "overall dynamic picture of the brain in action." While "there are continuities, [and] there are at all times some components that are on in a relatively steady state, […] there is always dynamism, there is always change." It would be an oversimplification, he says, "to make any claims about the functional job of any one of these components." This explains why sonification is an important tool for understanding brain activity: "Musical sound may represent something fundamental and distinctive about brain function" (Lloyd 2013a).
I am hearing the score of Chavez's brain activity. Lloyd claims that this is "consciousness itself." I would argue this is "spectatorship itself." However, I am actually listening to Lloyd's analysis of Chavez's brain activity rendered musically.
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