Episode 3: Introduction to the Psychology of Perception

Cognitive Psychology and Music   This 60 minutes builds upon the two previous episodes which introduced variable conceptions of, firstly, sound, and secondarily, the ear and the auditory brain.  

We will now move deeper into human consciousness and explore the internal mental representation of external sonic phenomena.  The work of Roger Shepard, after whom the sonic illusion of the Shepard tone is named, is central to the themes and scope of this episode.  Cognitive scientist, author and artist in his own right, his universal law of generalisation and his association with Max Mathews at Bell Labs from the late 1950’s, suggests that the scope of his interests encapsulate well the range of issues associated with this week’s topic.  

Keywords: Shepard tones, Bell Labs, Max Matthews, phenomenology, Helmholtz, unconscious inference, spatial and temporal inversion, perceptual completion.