Newborn infants' auditory system is sensitive to Western music chord categories

Paula Virtala,Eino Partanen,Vineta Fellman,Minna Huotilainen,Mari Tervaniemi

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00492

Paula Virtala, Eino Partanen + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00492

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Abstract

Neural encoding of abstract rules in the audition of newborn infants has been recently demonstrated in several studies using event-related potentials (ERPs). In the present study the neural encoding of Western music chords was investigated in newborn infants. Using ERPs, we examined whether the categorizations of major vs. minor and consonance vs. dissonance are present at the level of the change-related mismatch response (MMR). Using an oddball paradigm, root minor, dissonant and inverted major chords were presented in a context of consonant root major chords. The chords were transposed to several different frequency levels, so that the deviant chords did not include a physically deviant frequency that could result in an MMR without categorization. The results show that the newborn infants were sensitive to both dissonant and minor chords but not to inverted major chords in the context of consonant root major chords. While the dissonant chords elicited a large positive MMR, the minor chords elicited a negative MMR. This indicates that the two categories were processed differently. The results suggest newborn infants are sensitive to Western music categorizations, which is consistent with the authors' previous studies in adults and school-aged children.

Highlights

Western tonal music has two modes, major and minor
The present study addressed Western music chord processing in the newborn infant by employing event-related potentials (ERPs) (Luck, 2005) in a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm (Näätänen et al, 2007)
The inverted major chords elicited MMNs in neither of the groups of children in the study (Virtala et al, 2012). These results suggest that general neural development or, passive exposure to Western music during development may improve the neural discrimination of some Western music categories

Summary

Introduction

Western tonal music has two modes, major and minor. Major and minor chords differ in their interval structure, i.e., in the mutual relationships between the notes of the chord. Chords can be replaced by their different inversions, i.e., by shifting some notes of the chords to adjacent octaves This retains the chords’ identity as major or minor, despite changes in its physical composition. We recently demonstrated that highly dissonant chords and minor chords were discriminated in the context of consonant root major chords, while the inverted major chords were not (Virtala et al, 2011, 2012). This occurred even though inverted major chords, as well, introduce a change in interval structure. These results provide evidence that the discrimination of highly dissonant and minor chords from consonant major chords cannot be due to the interval structure change itself, but due to the specific types of interval structure changes introduced in dissonant and minor chords

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