rich polyphony upon a polyrhythmic continuum in an “infinite sound”of
“chaotic unity”(Meurant 1995:180).
Disruption and repair characterize more exploratory,variable,and
dramatic music (e.g.,Indian ragas,late classical or romantic Western
music,and jazz) that manipulates contrast and courts the unfamiliar,yet
ultimately restores rightness.In some experiences of music,heightened
affective moments and state transformations (boundary dissolutions)
are paradigmatic,whether achieved through hypnotic continuation,
manipulation of expectancy,or cathartic climactic release.Sometimes it
happens that “one new fact”added to what has gone before will
suddenly restructure aesthetic expectation and create an intensity of
feeling that surpasses response to mere raw stimulus change or more
conventional unfolding (Clore 1994:393).Crossmodal and Supramodal Neural Processing
As described,mutual regulation of patterns of timing and general affec-
tive involvement can occur in various modalities (e.g.,gaze,vocalization,
facial expression),at numerous ages across the first year (Beebe,Jaffe,
and Lachmann 1992).Evidence shows that for the infant,the modality
of stimulation (acoustic,visual,tactual,kinesthetic) may be a less crucial
feature of maternal behavior than the temporal patterning of that stim-
ulation (Jaffe and Anderson 1979:18;Jaffe et al.submitted).Trevarthen
(1986:154) found evidence for the existence of “a general expressive
mechanism in the brain that links oral,auditory,manual,and visual
sensory and motor channels in such a way that they are complementary
and equivalent”for making ideas expressive in language,but he would
probably agree for expressing emotions nonverbally as well.
Adult provision of a multimodal set of sensory stimuli selectively
regulates an equally broad and multimodal physiological and behavioral
homeostatic system in the infant (Kraemer 1992).Visual,somesthetic,
auditory,and olfactory sensory input from the environment (i.e.,mother)
converges in the infant’s orbitofrontal cortex,which is involved in
the formation of cross-modal associations and projects extensive path-
ways to subcortical motivational-emotional integration centers (Tucker
1992;Schore 1994:35).
In addition to cross-modal association and processing of facial,vocal,
and kinesic signals,Stern et al.(1985) showed that older infants can
perceive such dynamic supramodal features of experience as intensity,
contour,rhythm,and duration analogically (see also Eimas 1984;Marks,
Hammeal,and Bornstein 1987).I suggest that younger infants may have
similar supramodal abilities.Even one-month-old infants can recognize
correspondences across perceptual modalities of vision and touch (Melt-
zoff 1985:18).The ability of neonates to imitate mouth and hand move-396 Ellen Dissanayake