Brain waves associated with musical incongruities differ for musicians and non-musicians.
Musicians and non-musicians were presented with short musical phrases that were either selected from the classical musical repertoire or composed for the experiment. The phrases terminated either in a congruous or a 'harmonically', 'melodically', or 'rhythmically' incongruous note. The brain waves produced by the end-notes differed greatly between musicians and non-musicians, and as a function of the subject's familiarity with the melodies and the type of incongruity. The timing of these brain waves revealed that musicians are faster than non-musicians in detecting incongruities. This study provides further neurophysiological evidence concerning the mechanisms underlying music perception and the differences between musical and linguistic processing.
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, C.N.R.S.-L.N.C., Marseille, France.
M
M
Besson
F
F
Faïta
J
J
Requin
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D006801:Humans; D009146:Music