Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Educational Science and Management, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China; Key Laboratory of Educational Informatization for Nationalities, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China.
College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Neuropsychologia. 2018 Dec;121:164-174. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.005. Epub 2018 Oct 22.
In music, chords are organized into hierarchical structures on the basis of musical syntax and the syntax of Western music can be implicitly acquired by listeners growing up in a Western musical culture. Here, we investigated whether Western musical syntax of different complexities can be implicitly acquired by non-native listeners growing up in China. This study used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure how the neural responses to musical sequences that either follow a simple rule, i.e., finite state grammar (FSG), or a complex rule, i.e., phrase structure grammar (PSG), are affected. We tested three groups of Chinese listeners who varied in their proficiency and experience in Western music. Only the high-proficiency group had received formal Western musical training, whereas the low- and moderate-proficiency groups varied in their degree of exposure to Western music. The results showed that in the FSG condition, the event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by regular and irregular final chords were not significantly different in the low-proficiency group. In contrast, in the moderate- and high-proficiency groups, the irregular final chords evoked an ERAN-N5 biphasic response. In the PSG condition, however, only the high-proficiency group showed an ERAN-N5 biphasic response evoked by irregular final chords. This study provides evidence that although simple structures of Western music, such as FSG, can be acquired by long-term implicit learning, the acquisition of more complex structures, such as PSG, merely from exposure to western music may not be as easy.
在音乐中，和弦根据音乐语法和西方音乐语法组织成层次结构，而西方音乐语法可以被在西方音乐文化中成长的听众隐性习得。在这里，我们研究了在成长于中国的非母语听众中，不同复杂程度的西方音乐语法是否可以被隐性习得。本研究使用脑电图（EEG）来测量听众对遵循简单规则（即有限状态语法（FSG））或复杂规则（即句法结构语法（PSG））的音乐序列的神经反应如何受到影响。我们测试了三组中国听众，他们在西方音乐的熟练程度和经验上有所不同。只有高熟练组接受过正规的西方音乐训练，而低熟练组和中熟练组则在接触西方音乐的程度上有所不同。结果表明，在 FSG 条件下，低熟练组中规则和不规则的终和弦诱发的事件相关电位（ERPs）没有显著差异。相比之下，在中熟练组和高熟练组中，不规则的终和弦诱发了 ERAN-N5 双相反应。然而，在 PSG 条件下，只有高熟练组对不规则的终和弦表现出 ERAN-N5 双相反应。本研究提供了证据表明，尽管西方音乐的简单结构，如 FSG，可以通过长期的隐性学习来获得，但仅通过接触西方音乐来获得更复杂的结构，如 PSG，可能并不那么容易。
