title: The perception of harmonic triads: an fMRI study.
abstract: We have undertaken an fMRI study of harmony perception in order to determine the relationship between the diatonic triads of Western harmony and brain activation. Subjects were 12 right-handed, male non-musicians. All stimuli consisted of two harmonic triads that did not contain dissonant intervals of 1 or 2 semitones, but differed between them by 0, ±1, ±2 or ±3 semitones and therefore differed in terms of their inherent stability (major and minor chords) or instability (diminished and augmented chords). These musical stimuli were chosen on the basis of a psychoacoustical model of triadic harmony that has previously been shown to explain the fundamental regularities of traditional harmony theory. The brain response to the chords could be distinguished within the right orbitofrontal cortex and cuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus. Moreover, the strongest hemodynamic responses were found for conditions of rising pitch leading from harmonic tension to modal resolution.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi X
authors.initials: TX
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Norman D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Cook
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D055815:Young Adult