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This study investigated the strength of sensory and cognitive components involved in musical priming. In Experiment 1, the harmonic function of the target chord and the number of pitch classes shared by the prime sequence and the target chord were manipulated. In Experiment 2, the temporal course of sensory and cognitive priming was investigated. For both musician and nonmusician listeners, cognitive priming systematically overruled sensory priming even at fast and very fast tempi (300 ms and 150 ms per chord). Cognitive priming continued to challenge sensory priming processes at extremely fast tempo (75 ms per chord) but only for participants who began the experimental session with slower tempi. This outcome suggests that the cognitive component is a fast-acting component that competes with sensory priming.A musical context generates expectancies about upcoming musical events in listeners. Several features govern expectancy formation in Western music, including melodic interval size and melodic contour

This study further explores the effect of global context on chord processing reported by E. Bigand and M. Pineau (1997). Expectations of a target chord were varied by manipulating the preliminary harmonic context while holding constant the chord(s) prior to the target. In Experiment 1, previously observed priming effects were replicated with an on-line paradigm. Experiment 2 was an attempt to identify the point in chord sequences that is responsible for the occurrence of the priming effect. In Experiment 3, Bigand and Pineau's findings were extended to wider harmonic contexts (i.e., defined at three hierarchical levels), and new evidence was provided that chord processing also depends on the temporal organization of the musical sequence. Neural net simulations globally support J. J. Bharucha's (1987Bharucha's ( ,1994 view that priming effects result from activations spreading via a schematic knowledge of Western harmony.

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The structure of Western musical pieces is delineated by several kinds of cadence. Half cadences in the main key indicate temporary endings; authentic cadences in the main key indicate de®nitive endings. Authentic cadences in the dominant key are of cognitive interest, since they mark a de®nitive ending at a local level but a temporary ending at a global level. This study investigated the local versus global processing of these cadences. Participants were presented with sections of 16-bar minuets displayed on a computer screen in the form of a musical jigsaw puzzle. The sections consisted of either the ®rst or the second half of the minuet (8 bars each). The ®rst section ended with either a half cadence in the main key (all experiments), an authentic cadence in the dominant key (all experiments), or an authentic cadence in the main key (Exp. 4). The second section always ended in an authentic cadence in the main key. Participants were asked either to join the two sections of each minuet in the most coherent order (Exps. 1, 2, 4) or to rate the perceived completion of each section (Exps. 3, 4). Numerous inversion errors were observed when the ®rst section of the minuets ended with an authentic cadence in the dominant key. Completion judgments indicated that these cadences were perceived as marking a de®nitive ending. Both facts suggest that local processing of harmonic cadences prevails over global processing. This ®nding concurs with recent studies showing that listeners had great diculties in perceiving the higher-order organization of musical form.

The present study investigates the potential influence of voice leading on harmonic priming effects. Eight-chord sequences were presented to the participants, who had to perform a fast reaction task on a target chord ending the sequences. The target chord acted either as a tonic chord or as a subdominant chord. On the basis of previous findings, we expected more accurate and faster responses on tonic target chords. The critical new point of this study was to assess whether the size of this priming effect would be affected by good versus bad voice leading. In half of the trials, the writing of the sequences respected the rules of voice leading (normal voice leading), whereas in the other half it did not (parallel voice leading). The critical result was a significant main effect of voice leading on participants' performances (with faster responses for normal voice leading), which did not, however, affect the strength of the harmonic priming effects.Received April 16, 2003, accepted October 19, 2004 W estern harmony may be conceived of as a set of chords having specific syntax-like functions (harmonic functions) depending on the context in which they occur. In most popular styles, these harmonic functions are thought to be independent of the sounding of the chords, that is, of the chordal disposition. Everyone has probably heard an average, quasi-self-taught guitarist accompanying a song by playing chords without paying attention to how the tones of the successive chords are (or are not) linked. In this rudimentary musical setting, it is usually sufficient for chords to express their syntax-like function, even though false melodic relations exist between the notes of successive chords.

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