Flavio Valerio Alessi
in NODES 25 →
2025
https://doi.org/10.57633/NODES-25/7-ENG
Over the past 40 years, infant research studies have led to a significant shift in the understanding of cognitive and socio-affective skill development. In particular, the hypothesis has emerged that this competence is rooted in a form of embodied musicality, which underlies the organism’s ability to attune to its environment and manifests itself in the capacity for coordination and interaction with others. This paper offers a cognitive semiotics perspective on the issue, examining the relationship between musicality and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). More specifically, through an interpretation informed by recent developments in cognitive science – conceiving the mind as “enactive” and “extended” – the study analyzes a case of technology used in music therapy that functions as a perceptual-cognitive prosthesis for individuals with ASD. This technology operates on musicality at the perceptual, sensorimotor, and interaffective level.
To cite this article: Alessi, F. V. (2025). Objects for Affect Technologies for Affective Attunement in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Nodes (25):129-138, Numero Cromatico Editore, Rome