Senses exhibit mutual similarities and links, particularly between vision and hearing.
Specialized Receptors
In the first stage of sensory coding, incoming signals are locally analyzed by different interfaces that nonetheless share partially similar mechanisms (specialized receptors, sensitivity or insensitivity to change…). Feature extraction takes place here—edges and orientations for vision; rhythm and melodic contours for hearing.
Transformation into Forms
In a second stage, perceived elements are transformed—within roughly half a second—into recognizable, and therefore memorable, abstract forms. These forms are activated by physically different stimuli based on principles of resemblance, proximity, and continuity. They may be stored as prototypes against which incoming signals are compared.
Parts of a Whole
At these first two stages, another common operating principle emerges—identified around 1930 by the Gestalt psychologists: perception proceeds both locally and globally. Numerous experiments have shown that inputs are rapidly perceived as part of a whole, grouped into larger units. Our frequent failure to catch every typo in a text, for example, illustrates the mind’s prioritization of the whole over the detail. Quickly, our senses latch onto shapes and structures, biasing how signals are coded.
Creation of Meaning
In a more cognitive third stage, different “entries” into the nervous system activate identical semantic categories. Babies turn toward a voice, linking sound and image to form an initial sketch of the category “mother.” At this point, perceptions integrate to trigger the same representations, and interpretation begins.
Shared Descriptors and Relations
Many of the same adjectives—“intense, light, nostalgic, dark, contrasted, growing, monotonous, rhythmic…”—characterize both musical and visual works.
Certain harmony canons (such as the golden ratio) transpose from one sense to another.
Raw signals are waves; our organs respond to their wavelengths and frequencies.
Some contrasts apply equally to sound and image: High/Low, Long/Short, Loud/Soft, Intense/Gentle, Consonant/Dissonant, Smooth/Rough, Simple/Complex, Ascending/Descending, Extra/Intra…
Communicated emotions and felt responses overlap: nostalgia, joy, sadness, monotony, harmony, violence, peace…
Seeing a musician’s expressive performance of a piece amplifies the listener’s emotional experience.