Neural networks for harmonic structure in music perception and action

Abstract

1The ability to predict upcoming structured events based on long-term knowledge and 2 contextual priors is a fundamental principle of human cognition. Tonal music triggers 3 predictive processes based on structural properties of harmony, i.e., regularities defining the 4 arrangement of chords into well-formed musical sequences. While the neural architecture of 5 structure-based predictions during music perception is well described, little is known about 6 the neural networks for analogous predictions in musical actions and how they relate to 7 auditory perception. To fill this gap, expert pianists were presented with harmonically 8 congruent or incongruent chord progressions, either as musical actions (photos of a hand 9 playing chords) that they were required to watch and imitate without sound, or in an auditory 10 format that they listened to without playing. By combining task-based functional magnetic 11 resonance imaging (fMRI) with functional connectivity at rest, we identified distinct sub-12 regions in right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) interconnected with parietal and temporal areas 13 for processing action and audio sequences, respectively. We argue that the differential 14 contribution of parietal and temporal areas is tied to motoric and auditory long-term 15 representations of harmonic regularities that dynamically interact with computations in rIFG. 16Parsing of the structural dependencies in rIFG is co-determined by both stimulus-or task-

Revisiting the Neural Basis of Acquired Amusia: Lesion Patterns and Structural Changes Underlying Amusia Recovery

“…These results suggest that, in addition to the right STG/MTG, the right IFG-MFG-PreCG appears to be another crucial hub in acquired amusia as its lesions and atrophy are linked to initial severity and poor recovery. Previously, these areas have been implicated in the sequencing of auditory information and structural (syntactic) analysis of music (Koelsch, 2005; Tillmann et al, 2006; Bianco et al, 2016) in healthy subjects.…”

Recursion in action: An fMRI study on the generation of new hierarchical levels in motor sequences

“…Numerous studies in the domains of language, music, and vision have investigated the discrimination of hierarchical structures by asking participants to evaluate whether sequences of items are well‐formed according to a previously learned system of rules (Bahlmann, Schubotz, & Friederici, ; Bahlmann, Schubotz, Mueller, Koester, & Friederici, ; Bianco et al, ; Friederici, Bahlmann, Friedrich, & Makuuchi, ; Maess, Koelsch, Gunter, & Friederici, ; Sammler, Koelsch, & Friederici, ). These studies suggest that lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC, particularly inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) might contribute multi‐domain resources to the processing of hierarchies (Fadiga, Craighero, & D'Ausilio, ; Friederici et al, ; Patel, ), in interaction with areas along ventral visual/auditory streams that may store domain‐specific schematic information (Bianco et al, ; Martins et al, ; Oechslin, Gschwind, & James, ; Pallier, Devauchelle, & Dehaene, ; Sammler et al, ). Recent anatomical research has shown that IFG in humans is expanded (Schenker et al, ) and more strongly connected with the posterior temporal regions in comparison to other primates (Neubert, Mars, Thomas, Sallet, & Rushworth, ; Rilling et al, ).…”

When tension is exciting: an EEG exploration of excitement in music

“…This pre-Drop delay, including rising musical features, may cause greater tension associating with enhanced PCUN activity (Vuilleumier & Trost, 2015). As musical features deviate post-Drop, this heightened tension may amplify positive emotions due to contrastive valence, as well as mediating IFG and MFG activity (Bianco et al, 2016;Lappe et al, 2013;Seger et al, 2013). Therefore, Drops' tension-inducing and deviating structure may link to ITPRA via tension and prediction, which may also mediate activity in the PCUN pre-Drop and IFG and MFG post-Drop, as well as being associated with greater arousing and positive emotions, including excitement.…”

“…Music follows certain structures or rules within time, musical events, intensity and space, enabling musical syntax which is associated with IFG activity (Asano & Boeckx, 2015;Lehne et al, 2014;Koelsch, 2014;Kunert et al, 2015). Musical syntax facilitates predictability and listeners' anticipation of future music moments, which relates to musical tension, positive emotions when predictions are correct, and co-occurring IFG activity (Bianco et al, 2016;Huron, 2006;Koelsch, 2014;Lehne et al, 2014;Schön et al, 2010;Zatorre, Chen, & Penhune, 2007). Thus, the ITPRA theory suggests music evokes emotions via tension and anticipation of predicted moments, and tension has been shown to relate to IFG activity.…”

“…Research has shown music containing high anticipation and tension for predicted and unexpected alterations in its continuous framework evoke pleasant emotions, such as excitement, satisfaction, and surprise despite prior knowledge of the musical piece (Arjmand, Hohagen, Paton, & Rickard, 2017;Koelsch, 2014;Koelsch, Fritz, & Schlaug, 2008;Omigie, 2016;Zentner, Grandjean, & Scherer, 2008). Musical emotion associated with anticipation and deviation has been linked to increased activity in the same three brain areas mentioned above (Bianco et al, 2016;Lehne et al, 2014;Seger et al, 2013), as well as to experiencing pleasant musical emotions (Daly et al, 2014;Lehne et al, 2014;Tabei, 2015;Wallmark et al, 2018).…”