Studying Musical Savants: A Commentary on Grundy and Ockelford

Abstract

On the basis of the "zygonic" theory of musical understanding (Ockelford, 2006), Grundy and Ockelford (2014) investigated musical expectations evoked during the course of hearing a piece for the first time in a prodigious musical savant (Derek Paravicini). Overall, the results provided by Derek support the principles of the zygonic theory, especially that the higher the implication factor of a note, the more likely Derek would predict its occurrence. In my commentary, I first raise the question of the use of such individuals as musical savants to generalize findings to the general population, and second I address the issue of the task and the stimuli used.

Keywords

• zygonic theory
• musical expectation
• musical savant