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Dynamic hierarchical cognition: Music and language demand further types of abstracta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

Tudor Popescu Open the ORCID record for Tudor Popescu [Opens in a new window]  and
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Tudor Popescu
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1090Vienna, Austria. tudor.popescu@univie.ac.at tecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.at https://cogbio.univie.ac.at/people/postdoctoral-researchers/tudor-popescu/ https://cogbio.univie.ac.at/people/staff/tecumseh-fitch/
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1090Vienna, Austria. tudor.popescu@univie.ac.at tecumseh.fitch@univie.ac.at https://cogbio.univie.ac.at/people/postdoctoral-researchers/tudor-popescu/ https://cogbio.univie.ac.at/people/staff/tecumseh-fitch/
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Abstract

Hierarchical structures are rapidly and flexibly built up in the domains of human language and music. These domains require a tree-building capacity – “dendrophilia” – to dynamically infer hierarchical structures from sensory input (or to hierarchically structure output), based on subunits stored in a lexicon. This dynamic process involves a crucial class of abstracta overlooked in the target article.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e143
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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