Open AccessLanguage, Vision, and Music
Author(s) -
Kevitt Paul Mc,
Mulvihill Conn,
Nualláin Seán Ó
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ai magazine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 2371-9621
pISSN - 0738-4602
DOI - 10.1609/aimag.v21i4.1537
Subject(s) - ambiguity , cognitive science , cognition , metaphor , computer science , natural language , natural (archaeology) , artificial intelligence , linguistics , natural language processing , psychology , programming language , history , philosophy , archaeology , neuroscience
Language, vision, and music: What common cognitive patterns underlie our competence in these disparate modes of thought? Language (natural and formal), vision, and music seem to share at best the following attributes: a hierarchical organization 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?