title: The amusic brain: lost in music, but not in space.
abstract: Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of music processing that is currently ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. A recent study challenges this view and claims the disorder might arise as a consequence of a general spatial-processing deficit. Here, we assessed spatial processing abilities in two independent samples of individuals with congenital amusia by using line bisection tasks (Experiment 1) and a mental rotation task (Experiment 2). Both amusics and controls showed the classical spatial effects on bisection performance and on mental rotation performance, and amusics and controls did not differ from each other. These results indicate that the neurocognitive impairment of congenital amusia does not affect the processing of space.
authors.affiliation: Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France. barbara.tillmann@olfac.univ-lyon1.fr
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tillmann
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jolicoeur
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gosselin
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bertrand
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Peretz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D010898:Pitch Perception; D013028:Space Perception; D055815:Young Adult