Cognition, Musical Experience and Altered Consciousness: The Influence of the Cognitive Sciences in the Study of Music and Trance

Abstract

The present work aims to contribute to the transdisciplinary study of the role of music in trance through the systematic review of research that consider the field of cognitive sciences. Sixty articles were found on music and trance, but only eight of them consider cognitive theories in their interpretations. The results show that the connection between ethnographic and cognitive studies may be based on different perspectives: studies close to disciplines such as neurophysiology; behavioural studies close to psychology; and cognitive studies supported by various theories close to philosophy of the mind such as connectionism, the Embodied Mind theory, enactivism, or consciousness theories. Despite the various approaches and underlying cognitive theories, most of the works agree on the importance of the body, rhythmic entrainment, neurological research and ethnographic context as a way to understand trance and musical experience. On the other hand, they converge on the convenience of a transdisciplinary study of the phenomenon.