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Music matters: Preattentive musicality of the human brain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2002

STEFAN KOELSCH ,
ERICH SCHROGER  and
THOMAS C. GUNTER
STEFAN KOELSCH
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
ERICH SCHROGER
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
THOMAS C. GUNTER
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
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Abstract

During listening to a musical piece, unexpected harmonies may evoke brain responses that are reflected electrically as an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) and a late frontal negativity (N5). In the present study we demonstrate that these components of the event-related potential can be evoked preattentively, that is, even when a musical stimulus is ignored. Both ERAN and N5 differed in amplitude as a function of music-theoretical principles. Participants had no special musical expertise; results thus provide evidence for an automatic processing of musical information in “nonmusicians.”

Keywords

ElectroencephalographyAuditory processingMusicEarly right anterior negativityN5
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 38 - 48
Copyright
© 2002 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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