modularity hypothesis.Fodor (1983) elaborated the diverse traits of such
a system,of which the most important are that modules are specific to a
field of activity and are related to specific,identifiable neuronal systems
that can be affected in a specific manner by cerebral lesions;modules
have their own processing capacity and their own memory resources,
being independent of other modules and of more general processes;the
action or operation of a module is rapid,automatic,and functional in
accordance with a fixed neuronal architecture (circuit);and integration
of fixed knowledge in the modules is ensured by central processes acting
on the output of the modules,but not on the internal processes,which
stay inaccessible.
The existence of modular systems for perception and music compre-
hension was also proposed by Gardner (1983) and Jackendoff (1987).
But according to Fodor,distinct and specific modular mechanisms exist
for processing pitch (melody) and rhythm (temporal organization).
However,reality is much more complex.According to Peretz and Morais
(1989),everything depends on the level of processing of musical infor-
mation.At the earliest levels,pitch and duration are distinct;at later
levels,they depend on central coordinating mechanisms.Doubt is thus
cast on the relevance of the modular hypothesis once we reach higher
levels of musical processing since in most musical systems pitch and
duration are interdependent (unless we suppose that tonality in general,
i.e.,the existence of a determined scale of sounds and fixed intervals,can
define itself as a modular system).
It is here that we enter the domain of conjectures and metaphorical
analogies concerning language to which cognitivism can lead:this
hypothesis of tonality as a modular system was strongly defended
through work on what Francès (1958) called l’intégration scalaireof the
perception of sound.This work tends to show that both nonmusicians
and musicians perceive sounds in relation to an internal and implicit
reference,which is none other than the scale of the musical system to
which they belong.Apparently,such encoding has all the properties of a
modular system:automatization of tonal processing independent of edu-
cation or intervention;early appearance in child development;and dis-
sociability of tonal perception from other types of perception in cases of
cerebral damage (i.e.,certain lesions touch only melodic perception,
leaving verbal function intact,or vice versa).
In reality,modular function as described by Fodor pertains only to
some aspects of music,and these are probably the least developed and
the least musical,such as isolated sounds or sequences of a few sounds.
Furthermore, hemispheric specialization, a concept through which
modular models have been developed,is probably less evident for music
than for speech.In 1974 Bever and Chiarello showed that musicians and454 Michel Imberty