Academic Press Series in Cognition and Perception: A Series of Monographs and Treatises: Music Cognition focuses on the perception and cognition of music. The book first elaborates on the sense and perception of sound and timbre, consonance, and dissonance. Discussions focus on timbre, consonance and dissonance, sound waves, loudness, localization, music materials, music, cognition, and culture. The text then takes a look at musical scales and melody, including memory for melodic features, scales in other cultures, absolute pitch, Western scales and equal temperament, and alternative accounts. The manuscript ponders on melodic organization, rhythm and organization of time, emotion, and meaning, and cultural contexts of musical experience. Topics include function of music in society, description from within cultures, a cognitive theory of emotion, temporal experience, perception of rhythm, and cross-cultural studies. The book is a dependable reference for music experts and researchers interested in music cognition.