A neurophysiological study into the foundations of tonal harmony.
Abstract
Our findings provide magnetoencephalographic evidence that the mismatch-negativity
response to two-note chords (dyads) is modulated by a combination of abstract cognitive
differences and lower-level differences in the auditory signal. Participants were
presented with series of simple-ratio sinusoidal dyads (perfect fourths and perfect
fifths) in which the difference between the standard and deviant dyad exhibited an
interval change, a shift in pitch space, or both. In addition, the standard-deviant
pair of dyads either shared one note or both notes were changed. Only the condition
that featured both abstract changes (interval change and pitch-space shift) and two
novel notes showed a significantly larger magnetoencephalographic mismatch-negativity
response than the other conditions in the right hemisphere. Implications for music
and language processing are discussed.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Acoustic StimulationAdult
Auditory Cortex
Brain Mapping
Cognition
Evoked Potentials
Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Magnetoencephalography
Male
Middle Aged
Music
Neuronal Plasticity
Neuropsychological Tests
Periodicity
Pitch Perception
Reaction Time
Sound
Speech Perception
Time Factors
Young Adult
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Elika Bergelson
Crandall Family Assistant Professor
Dr. Bergelson is accepting applications for PhD students in the 2018-2019 Cycle; she
accepts through the Developmental and Cog/CogNeuro areas of P&N and the CNAP program.In
my research, I try to understand the interplay of processes during language acquisition.
In particular, I am interested in how word learning relates to other aspects of learning
language (i.e. speech sound acquisition), and social/cognitive development more broadly
(e.g. joint attention

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