scholarly journals Effects of Musical Expertise and Boundary Markers on Phrase Perception in Music

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 472-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Neuhaus ◽  
Thomas R. Knösche ◽  
Angela D. Friederici
Keyword(s):  
Harmonic Function ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Phrase Boundary ◽  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Pause Length ◽  
Closure Positive Shift

A neural correlate for phrase boundary perception in music has recently been identified in musicians. It is called music closure positive shift (“music CPS”) and has an equivalent in the perception of speech (“language CPS”). The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of musical expertise and different phrase boundary markers on the music CPS, using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and event-related magnetic fields (ERFs). Musicians and nonmusicians were tested while listening to binary phrased melodies. ERPs and ERFs of both subject groups differed considerably from each other. Phrased melody versions evoked an electric CPS and a magnetic CPSm in musicians, but an early negativity and a less pronounced CPSm in nonmusicians, suggesting different perceptual strategies for both subject groups. Musicians seem to process musical phrases in a structured manner similar to language. Nonmusicians, in contrast, are thought to detect primarily discontinuity in the melodic input. Variations of acoustic cues in the vicinity of the phrase boundary reveal that the CPS is influenced by a number of parameters that are considered to indicate phrasing in melodies: pause length, length of the last tone preceding the pause, and harmonic function of this last tone. This is taken as evidence that the CPS mainly reflects higher cognitive processing of phrasing, rather than mere perception of pauses. Furthermore, results suggest that the ERP and MEG methods are sensitive to different aspects within phrase perception. For both subject groups, qualitatively different ERP components (CPS and early negativity) seem to reflect a top-down activation of general but different phrasing schemata, whereas quantitatively differing MEG signals appear to reflect gradual differences in the bottom-up processing of acoustic boundary markers.

scholarly journals Different Brain Mechanisms Mediate Sensitivity to Sensory Consonance and Harmonic Context: Evidence from Auditory Event-Related Brain Potentials

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascaline Regnault ◽  
Emmanuel Bigand ◽  
Mireille Besson
Keyword(s):  
Harmonic Function ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Sensory Level ◽  
Target Onset ◽  
Positive Component ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Late Positive Component ◽  
Sensory Consonance ◽  
Harmonic Context

The goal of this study was to analyze the time-course of sensory (bottom-up) and cognitive (top-down) processes that govern musical harmonic expectancy. Eight-chord sequences were presented to 12 musicians and 12 nonmusicians. Expectations for the last chord were manipulated both at the sensory level (i.e., the last chord was sensory consonant or dissonant) and at the cognitive level (the harmonic function of the target was varied by manipulating the harmonic context built up by the first six chords of the sequence). Changes in the harmonic function of the target chord mainly modulate the amplitude of a positive component peaking around 300 msec (P3) after target onset, reflecting top-down influences on the perceptual stages of processing. In contrast, changes in the acoustic structure of the target chord (sensory consonance) mainly modulate the amplitude of a late positive component that develops between 300 and 800 msec after target onset. Most importantly, the effects of sensory consonance and harmonic context on the event-related brain potentials associated with the target chords were found to be independent, thus suggesting that two separate processors contribute to the building up of musical expectancy.

Skipping Breakfast Affects the Early Steps of Cognitive Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Andrés Antonio González-Garrido ◽  
Jacobo José Brofman-Epelbaum ◽  
Fabiola Reveca Gómez-Velázquez ◽  
Sebastián Agustín Balart-Sánchez ◽  
Julieta Ramos-Loyo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Skipping Breakfast

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

Event related brain potentials and cognitive processing: Implications for navy training.

1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory W. Lewis ◽  
Pat-Anthony Federico ◽  
Jeffrey N. Froning ◽  
Marlene Calder
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Brain Potentials

Dyspnea-pain counterirritation induced by inspiratory threshold loading: a laser-evoked potentials study

2012 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1166-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Bouvier ◽  
Louis Laviolette ◽  
Felix Kindler ◽  
Lionel Naccache ◽  
André Mouraux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
Somatosensory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Normal Male ◽  
Work Effort ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Laser Evoked Potentials ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Nociceptive Flexion Reflex ◽  
Electrical Stimuli ◽  
Experimentally Induced

Background: experimentally induced dyspnea of the work/effort type inhibits, in a top-down manner, the spinal transmission of nociceptive inputs (dyspnea-pain counterirritation). Previous studies have demonstrated that this inhibition can be assessed by measuring the nociceptive flexion reflex (RIII). However, its clinical application is limited because of the strong discomfort associated with the electrical stimuli required to elicit the RIII reflex. Study objectives: we examined whether the dyspnea-pain counterirritation phenomenon can be evaluated by measuring the effect of work/effort type dyspnea on the magnitude of laser-evoked brain potentials (LEPs). Methods: 10 normal male volunteers were studied (age: 19–30 years). LEPs were elicited using a CO2 laser stimulator delivering 10- to 15-ms stimuli of 6 ± 0.7 W over a 12.5 mm2 area. The EEG was recorded using nine scalp channels. Non-nociceptive somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) served as control. LEPs and SEPs were recorded before, during, and after 10 min of experimentally induced dyspnea [inspiratory threshold loading (ITL)]. Results: pain caused by the nociceptive laser stimulus was mild. ITL consistently induced dyspnea, mostly of the “excessive effort” type. Amplitude of the N2-P2 wave of LEPs decreased by 37.6 ± 13.8% during ITL and was significantly correlated with the intensity of dyspnea [ r = 0.66, CI 95% (0.08–0.92, P = 0.0319)]. In contrast, ITL had no effect on the magnitude of non-nociceptive SEPs. Discussion: experimentally induced dyspnea of the work/effort type reduces the magnitude of LEPs. This reduction correlates with the intensity of dyspnea. The recording of LEPs could constitute a clinically applicable approach to assess the dyspnea-pain counterirritation phenomenon in patients.

scholarly journals Infant cognition includes the potentially human-unique ability to encode embedding

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. eaar8334 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Winkler ◽  
J. L. Mueller ◽  
A. D. Friederici ◽  
C. Männel
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Infant Cognition ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Auditory Oddball ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Nested Relations ◽  
Unique Ability ◽  
Human Specific

Human cognition relies on the ability to encode complex regularities in the input. Regularities above a certain complexity level can involve the feature of embedding, defined by nested relations between sequential elements. While comparative studies suggest the cognitive processing of embedding to be human specific, evidence of its ontogenesis is lacking. To assess infants’ ability to process embedding, we implemented nested relations in tone sequences, minimizing perceptual and memory requirements. We measured 5-month-olds’ brain responses in two auditory oddball paradigms, presenting standard sequences with one or two levels of embedding, interspersed with infrequent deviant sequences violating the established embedding rules. Brain potentials indicate that infants detect embedding violations and thus appear to track nested relations. This shows that the ability to encode embedding may be part of the basic human cognitive makeup, which might serve as scaffolding for the acquisition of complex regularities in language or music.

scholarly journals Switching perception of musical meters by listening to different acoustic cues of biphasic sound stimulus.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sotaro Kondoh ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya ◽  
Ryosuke O Tachibana
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Sound Stimulus ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Core ◽  
Entire Structure ◽  
Core Features

Meter is one of the core features of music perception. It is the cognitive grouping of regular sound sequences, typically for every 2, 3, or 4 beats. Previous studies have suggested that one can not only passively perceive the meter from acoustic cues such as loudness, pitch, and duration of sound elements, but also actively perceive it by paying attention to isochronous sound events without any acoustic cues. Studying the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processing in meter perception leads to understanding the cognitive system’s ability to perceive the entire structure of music. The present study aimed to demonstrate that meter perception requires the top-down process (which maintains and switches attention between cues) as well as the bottom-up process for discriminating acoustic cues. We created a “biphasic” sound stimulus, which consists of successive tone sequences designed to provide cues for both the triple and quadruple meters in different sound attributes, frequency, and duration, and measured how participants perceived meters from the stimulus in a five-point scale (ranged from “strongly triple” to “strongly quadruple”). Participants were asked to focus on differences in frequency and duration. We found that well-trained participants perceived different meters by switching their attention to specific cues, while untrained participants did not. This result provides evidence for the idea that meter perception involves the interaction between top-down and bottom-up processes, which training can facilitate.

scholarly journals Switching perception of musical meters by listening to different acoustic cues of biphasic sound stimulus

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256712
Author(s):  
Sotaro Kondoh ◽  
Kazuo Okanoya ◽  
Ryosuke O. Tachibana
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Sound Stimulus ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Core ◽  
Entire Structure ◽  
Core Features

Meter is one of the core features of music perception. It is the cognitive grouping of regular sound sequences, typically for every 2, 3, or 4 beats. Previous studies have suggested that one can not only passively perceive the meter from acoustic cues such as loudness, pitch, and duration of sound elements, but also actively perceive it by paying attention to isochronous sound events without any acoustic cues. Studying the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processing in meter perception leads to understanding the cognitive system’s ability to perceive the entire structure of music. The present study aimed to demonstrate that meter perception requires the top-down process (which maintains and switches attention between cues) as well as the bottom-up process for discriminating acoustic cues. We created a “biphasic” sound stimulus, which consists of successive tone sequences designed to provide cues for both the triple and quadruple meters in different sound attributes, frequency, and duration. Participants were asked to focus on either frequency or duration of the stimulus, and to answer how they perceived meters on a five-point scale (ranged from “strongly triple” to “strongly quadruple”). As a result, we found that participants perceived different meters by switching their attention to specific cues. This result adds evidence to the idea that meter perception involves the interaction between top-down and bottom-up processes.

Influence of Musical Expertise on Segmental and Tonal Processing in Mandarin Chinese

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2701-2715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline Marie ◽  
Franco Delogu ◽  
Giulia Lampis ◽  
Marta Olivetti Belardinelli ◽  
Mireille Besson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Language Transfer ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Musical Expertise ◽  
Tonal Processing

A same–different task was used to test the hypothesis that musical expertise improves the discrimination of tonal and segmental (consonant, vowel) variations in a tone language, Mandarin Chinese. Two four-word sequences (prime and target) were presented to French musicians and nonmusicians unfamiliar with Mandarin, and event-related brain potentials were recorded. Musicians detected both tonal and segmental variations more accurately than nonmusicians. Moreover, tonal variations were associated with higher error rate than segmental variations and elicited an increased N2/N3 component that developed 100 msec earlier in musicians than in nonmusicians. Finally, musicians also showed enhanced P3b components to both tonal and segmental variations. These results clearly show that musical expertise influenced the perceptual processing as well as the categorization of linguistic contrasts in a foreign language. They show positive music-to-language transfer effects and open new perspectives for the learning of tone languages.

scholarly journals Musical Expertise Increases Top–Down Modulation Over Hippocampal Activation during Familiarity Decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Gagnepain ◽  
Baptiste Fauvel ◽  
Béatrice Desgranges ◽  
Malo Gaubert ◽  
Fausto Viader ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Top Down ◽  
Musical Expertise

scholarly journals V1 as an Egocentric Cognitive Map

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Linton
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Pictorial Cues ◽  
Recurrent Processing ◽  
Visual Consciousness ◽  
Integrated Information Theory

We typically distinguish between V1 as an egocentric perceptual map and the hippocampus as an allocentric cognitive map. In this article we explain why V1 also functions as an egocentric cognitive map. To the extent that cognitive processing has been discussed in V1, it has focused on (a) the allocation of attention, (b) top-down influences on perception, and (c) the transition from egocentric perception to allocentric navigation. By contrast, in this article we argue that three well-documented functions of V1, namely (a) the estimation of distance from eye position, (b) the estimation of size from eye position and/or pictorial cues, and (c) the multisensory integration of vision with proprioception and hearing, are potentially better understood as post-perceptual cognitive inferences. We use this insight to explore V1 as the neural correlates of the visual perception / cognition distinction, and propose a low-level account of visual consciousness in contrast to mid-level accounts (recurrent processing theory; integrated information theory), and higher-level accounts (higher-order thought; global workspace theory). We conclude by outlining the implications of our account for the perception of depth, motion, and colour / illumination.

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