The anterior portion of the bilateral temporal lobes participates in music perception: a positron emission tomography study.
OBJECTIVE
The mechanism underlying the perception of music has been the subject of study for many years. We investigated the role of the anterior portion of the temporal lobes in the perception of music in nonmusicians by use of positron emission tomography (PET).


METHODS
We used the subtraction technique for PET to investigate the role of the anterior portion of the bilateral temporal lobes in music perception. Nonmusicians performed two kinds of musical tasks: harmony listening and soprano part listening.


RESULTS
During the harmony-listening task, the anterior portion of the temporal lobes, cingulate gyri, and cerebellum were bilaterally activated. During the soprano part-listening task, the bilateral superior parietal lobules, and the right precuneus were significantly activated.


CONCLUSIONS
The anterior portion of the bilateral temporal lobes is vital in the discrimination of melodies and chords. Differences between activated brain regions exist between musicians and nonmusicians when listening to a particular vocal part of a musical phrase.
Satoh
Masayuki
M
Department of Neurology, Mie University School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
Takeda
Katsuhiko
K
Nagata
Ken
K
Hatazawa
Jun
J
Kuzuhara
Shigeki
S
D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed