A tisket a tacit...

I mentioned in another blog "Listen and Learn" how the auditory context trigger mechanisms in the brains of some professional musicians makes use of the information stored in the long-term memory to learn large amounts of "new" material. By indexing the aggregate of previously learned or "chunked" information the musician's brain can more efficiently compartmentalize the smaller bits of unique data they actually need to "learn."

This retrieval of tacit auditory information is more common than we might think. In the video below, Bobby McFarrin demonstrates what has become one of my very favorite examples of this context triggering of collective tacit auditory knowledge in a panel discussion audience. Without a word, using the pentatonic scale McFarrin successfully triggers the audience to accurately produce the tones of the pentatonic scale in an spontaneous musical performance (elaboration). He then stretches the performance well beyond the original bounds of his original triggers with a bit of Gestalt closure as the audience continues to automatically and spontaneously, and accurately, “fill in” the missing notes of the pentatonic scale. This fascinating demonstration from a panel discussion titled Notes and Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus is a compelling revelation into how deeply, well-organized and applicable unstructured or passively absorbed information can be. The neuroscientists behind him are knocked out by this spontaneous and unplanned demonstration.

Watch the demonstration below:

At one point later in the discussion portion of the program (at 24:55), McFarrin asks the panel specifically what scientists understand about how the brain experiences planned or structured vs. unintentional encounters with music. In the response the implicit and unconscious registry of auditory is discussed as not being distinct from a structured anticipatory registry with additional discussion on how the brain processes sound and music. Some interesting information about musical intervals, “pitch codes,” timbre and tempos influence how the brain registers sound and interprets communication. The discussion on the effects of acculturation on information processing and reiteration/performance is also fascinating: