Abstract
BackgroundMusic-syntactic irregularities often co-occur with the processing of physical irregularities. In this study we constructed chord-sequences such that perceived differences in the cognitive processing between regular and irregular chords could not be due to the sensory processing of acoustic factors like pitch repetition or pitch commonality (the major component of ‘sensory dissonance’).Methodology/Principal FindingsTwo groups of subjects (musicians and nonmusicians) were investigated with electroencephalography (EEG). Irregular chords elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) in the event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The ERAN had a latency of around 180 ms after the onset of the music-syntactically irregular chords, and had maximum amplitude values over right anterior electrode sites.Conclusions/SignificanceBecause irregular chords were hardly detectable based on acoustical factors (such as pitch repetition and sensory dissonance), this ERAN effect reflects for the most part cognitive (not sensory) components of regularity-based, music-syntactic processing. Our study represents a methodological advance compared to previous ERP-studies investigating the neural processing of music-syntactically irregular chords.
Highlights
Since the mid 1980s, a number of studies from different groups investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of musical structure using event-related brain potentials (ERPs)
The regularities of the arrangement of chord functions within a harmonic sequence have been denoted as part of a musical syntax [12,13,3], and previous studies examining neural mechanisms of processing musical syntax using chord sequence paradigms revealed a variety of ERP components to be elicited by irregular harmonies, such as the P300 [14], LPC, RATN, and early right anterior negativity (ERAN); the functional significance of these components has been reviewed elsewhere [16,17,18]
There was a significant three-way interaction of Chord6Set6Anterior-Posterior (p,.033, reflecting that the ERAN amplitude differed between both sets of sequences at anterior leads), and a follow-up ANOVA with factors Chord, Hemisphere, Set, and Expertise computed separately for anterior Regions of Interest (ROIs) yielded a significant interaction of Chord6Set (F(1,22) = 4.79, p,.039), indicating that double dominant (DD) of Set A elicited a larger ERAN than DDs of Set B at anterior electrode sites
Summary
Since the mid 1980s, a number of studies from different groups investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of musical structure using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The regularities of the arrangement of chord functions within a harmonic sequence have been denoted as part of a musical syntax [12,13,3], and previous studies examining neural mechanisms of processing musical syntax using chord sequence paradigms revealed a variety of ERP components to be elicited by irregular harmonies, such as the P300 [14], LPC (late positive component, [15]), RATN (right anterior temporal negativity, [1]), and ERAN (early right anterior negativity, [8]); the functional significance of these components has been reviewed elsewhere [16,17,18]. In this study we constructed chord-sequences such that perceived differences in the cognitive processing between regular and irregular chords could not be due to the sensory processing of acoustic factors like pitch repetition or pitch commonality (the major component of ‘sensory dissonance’)
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