Kim Taehyoung, Chung Miyoung, Jeong Eunju, Cho Yang Seok, Kwon Oh-Sang, Kim Sung-Phil
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
Department of Music and Science for Clinical Practice, College of Interdisciplinary Industrial Studies, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Biomed Eng Lett. 2023 Apr 13;13(3):441-454. doi: 10.1007/s13534-023-00274-y. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Neural coding of auditory stimulus frequency is well-documented; however, the cortical signals and perceptual correlates of pitch have not yet been comprehensively investigated. This study examined the temporal patterns of event-related potentials (ERP) in response to single tones of pitch chroma, with an assumption that these patterns would be more prominent in musically-trained individuals than in non-musically-trained individuals. Participants with and without musical training (N = 20) were presented with seven notes on the C major scale (C4, D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, and B4), and whole-brain activities were recorded. A linear regression analysis between the ERP amplitude and the seven notes showed that the ERP amplitude increased or decreased as the frequency of the pitch increased. Remarkably, these linear correlations were anti-symmetric between the hemispheres. Specifically, we found that ERP amplitudes of the left and right frontotemporal areas decreased and increased, respectively, as the pitch frequency increased. Although linear slopes were significant in both groups, the musically-trained group exhibited marginally steeper slope, and their ERP amplitudes were most discriminant for frequency of tone of pitch at earlier latency than in the non-musically-trained group (~ 460 ms vs ~ 630 ms after stimulus onset). Thus, the ERP amplitudes in frontotemporal areas varied according to the pitch frequency, with the musically-trained participants demonstrating a wider range of amplitudes and inter-hemispheric anti-symmetric patterns. Our findings may provide new insights on cortical processing of musical pitch, revealing anti-symmetric processing of musical pitch between hemispheres, which appears to be more pronounced in musically-trained people.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13534-023-00274-y.
听觉刺激频率的神经编码已有充分记录；然而，音高的皮层信号和感知相关性尚未得到全面研究。本研究考察了对音级单音响应时事件相关电位（ERP）的时间模式，假设这些模式在受过音乐训练的个体中比未受过音乐训练的个体中更为显著。对有和没有音乐训练的参与者（N = 20）呈现C大调音阶上的七个音符（C4、D4、E4、F4、G4、A4和B4），并记录全脑活动。ERP振幅与七个音符之间的线性回归分析表明，ERP振幅随着音高频率的增加而增加或减少。值得注意的是，这些线性相关性在半球之间是反对称的。具体而言，我们发现随着音高频率增加，左右额颞叶区域的ERP振幅分别降低和增加。尽管两组的线性斜率均显著，但受过音乐训练的组斜率略陡，并且他们的ERP振幅在刺激开始后比未受过音乐训练的组更早的潜伏期（约460毫秒对约630毫秒）对音高频率的辨别能力最强。因此，额颞叶区域的ERP振幅根据音高频率而变化，受过音乐训练的参与者表现出更广泛的振幅范围和半球间反对称模式。我们的发现可能为音乐音高的皮层处理提供新的见解，揭示半球间音乐音高的反对称处理，这在受过音乐训练的人中似乎更为明显。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s13534-023-00274-y获取的补充材料。
