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Benner J, Reinhardt J, Christiner M, Wengenroth M, Stippich C, Schneider P, Blatow M. Temporal hierarchy of cortical responses reflects core-belt-parabelt organization of auditory cortex in musicians. Cereb Cortex 2023:7030622. [PMID: 36786655 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 01/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Human auditory cortex (AC) organization resembles the core-belt-parabelt organization in nonhuman primates. Previous studies assessed mostly spatial characteristics; however, temporal aspects were little considered so far. We employed co-registration of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) in musicians with and without absolute pitch (AP) to achieve spatial and temporal segregation of human auditory responses. First, individual fMRI activations induced by complex harmonic tones were consistently identified in four distinct regions-of-interest within AC, namely in medial Heschl's gyrus (HG), lateral HG, anterior superior temporal gyrus (STG), and planum temporale (PT). Second, we analyzed the temporal dynamics of individual MEG responses at the location of corresponding fMRI activations. In the AP group, the auditory evoked P2 onset occurred ~25 ms earlier in the right as compared with the left PT and ~15 ms earlier in the right as compared with the left anterior STG. This effect was consistent at the individual level and correlated with AP proficiency. Based on the combined application of MEG and fMRI measurements, we were able for the first time to demonstrate a characteristic temporal hierarchy ("chronotopy") of human auditory regions in relation to specific auditory abilities, reflecting the prediction for serial processing from nonhuman studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Benner
- Department of Neuroradiology and Section of Biomagnetism, University of Heidelberg Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Julia Reinhardt
- Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Institute Basel (CRIB), University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.,Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Markus Christiner
- Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.,Department of Musicology, Vitols Jazeps Latvian Academy of Music, Riga, Latvia
| | - Martina Wengenroth
- Department of Neuroradiology, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Christoph Stippich
- Department of Neuroradiology and Radiology, Kliniken Schmieder, Allensbach, Germany
| | - Peter Schneider
- Department of Neuroradiology and Section of Biomagnetism, University of Heidelberg Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.,Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.,Department of Musicology, Vitols Jazeps Latvian Academy of Music, Riga, Latvia
| | - Maria Blatow
- Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neurocenter, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland
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2
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Ngan VSH, Cheung LYT, Ng HTY, Yip KHM, Wong YK, Wong ACN. An early perceptual locus of absolute pitch. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14170. [PMID: 36094011 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) refers to the naming of musical tone without external reference. The influential two-component model states that AP is limited by the late-emerging pitch labeling process only and not the earlier perceptual and memory processes. Over the years, however, support for this model at the neural level has been mixed with various methodological limitations. Here, the electroencephalography responses of 27 AP possessors and 27 non-AP possessors were recorded. During both name verification and passive listening, event-related potential analyses showed a difference between AP and non-AP possessors at about 200 ms in their response toward tones compared with noise stimuli. Multivariate pattern analyses suggested that pitch naming was subserved by a series of transient processes for the first 250 ms, followed by a stage-like process for both AP and non-AP possessors with no group differences between them. These findings are inconsistent with the predictions of the two-component model, and instead suggest the existence of an early perceptual locus of AP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vince S H Ngan
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Leo Y T Cheung
- Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Hezul T Y Ng
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Ken H M Yip
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Yetta Kwailing Wong
- Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
| | - Alan C-N Wong
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
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3
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Sharma VV, Thaut M, Russo FA, Alain C. Absolute pitch: neurophysiological evidence for early brain activity in prefrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:6465-6473. [PMID: 36702477 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/02/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to rapidly label pitch without an external reference. The speed of AP labeling may be related to faster sensory processing. We compared time needed for auditory processing in AP musicians, non-AP musicians, and nonmusicians (NM) using high-density electroencephalographic recording. Participants responded to pure tones and sung voice. Stimuli evoked a negative deflection peaking at ~100 ms (N1) post-stimulus onset, followed by a positive deflection peaking at ~200 ms (P2). N1 latency was shortest in AP, intermediate in non-AP musicians, and longest in NM. Source analyses showed decreased auditory cortex and increased frontal cortex contributions to N1 for complex tones compared with pure tones. Compared with NM, AP musicians had weaker source currents in left auditory cortex but stronger currents in left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) during N1, and stronger currents in left IFG during P2. Compared with non-AP musicians, AP musicians exhibited stronger source currents in right insula and left IFG during N1, and stronger currents in left IFG during P2. Non-AP musicians had stronger N1 currents in right auditory cortex than nonmusicians. Currents in left IFG and left auditory cortex were correlated to response times exclusively in AP. Findings suggest a left frontotemporal network supports rapid pitch labeling in AP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek V Sharma
- Neurosciences and Mental Health, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5G 0A8, Canada
| | - Michael Thaut
- Music and Health Sciences, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, 90 Wellesley Street West, Toronto, ON M5S 1C5, Canada
| | - Frank A Russo
- Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Claude Alain
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON M6A 2E1, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
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4
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Bairnsfather JE, Osborne MS, Martin C, Mosing MA, Wilson SJ. Use of explicit priming to phenotype absolute pitch ability. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0273828. [PMID: 36103463 PMCID: PMC9473427 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Musicians with absolute pitch (AP) can name the pitch of a musical note in isolation. Expression of this unusual ability is thought to be influenced by heritability, early music training and current practice. However, our understanding of factors shaping its expression is hampered by testing and scoring methods that treat AP as dichotomous. These fail to capture the observed variability in pitch-naming accuracy among reported AP possessors. The aim of this study was to trial a novel explicit priming paradigm to explore phenotypic variability of AP. Thirty-five musically experienced individuals (Mage = 29 years, range 18–68; 14 males) with varying AP ability completed a standard AP task and the explicit priming AP task. Results showed: 1) phenotypic variability of AP ability, including high-accuracy AP, heterogeneous intermediate performers, and chance-level performers; 2) intermediate performance profiles that were either reliant on or independent of relative pitch strategies, as identified by the priming task; and 3) the emergence of a bimodal distribution of AP performance when adopting scoring criteria that assign credit to semitone errors. These findings show the importance of methods in studying behavioural traits, and are a key step towards identifying AP phenotypes. Replication of our results in larger samples will further establish the usefulness of this priming paradigm in AP research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane E. Bairnsfather
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Margaret S. Osborne
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Catherine Martin
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Miriam A. Mosing
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Behaviour Genetics Unit, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sarah J. Wilson
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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5
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Leipold S, Klein C, Jäncke L. Musical Expertise Shapes Functional and Structural Brain Networks Independent of Absolute Pitch Ability. J Neurosci 2021; 41:2496-2511. [PMID: 33495199 PMCID: PMC7984587 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1985-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 11/11/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Professional musicians are a popular model for investigating experience-dependent plasticity in human large-scale brain networks. A minority of musicians possess absolute pitch, the ability to name a tone without reference. The study of absolute pitch musicians provides insights into how a very specific talent is reflected in brain networks. Previous studies of the effects of musicianship and absolute pitch on large-scale brain networks have yielded highly heterogeneous findings regarding the localization and direction of the effects. This heterogeneity was likely influenced by small samples and vastly different methodological approaches. Here, we conducted a comprehensive multimodal assessment of effects of musicianship and absolute pitch on intrinsic functional and structural connectivity using a variety of commonly used and state-of-the-art multivariate methods in the largest sample to date (n = 153 female and male human participants; 52 absolute pitch musicians, 51 non-absolute pitch musicians, and 50 non-musicians). Our results show robust effects of musicianship in interhemispheric and intrahemispheric connectivity in both structural and functional networks. Crucially, most of the effects were replicable in both musicians with and without absolute pitch compared with non-musicians. However, we did not find evidence for an effect of absolute pitch on intrinsic functional or structural connectivity in our data: The two musician groups showed strikingly similar networks across all analyses. Our results suggest that long-term musical training is associated with robust changes in large-scale brain networks. The effects of absolute pitch on neural networks might be subtle, requiring very large samples or task-based experiments to be detected.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A question that has fascinated neuroscientists, psychologists, and musicologists for a long time is how musicianship and absolute pitch, the rare talent to name a tone without reference, are reflected in large-scale networks of the human brain. Much is still unknown as previous studies have reported widely inconsistent results based on small samples. Here, we investigate the largest sample of musicians and non-musicians to date (n = 153) using a multitude of established and novel analysis methods. Results provide evidence for robust effects of musicianship on functional and structural networks that were replicable in two separate groups of musicians and independent of absolute pitch ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Leipold
- Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Carina Klein
- Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Division of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
- University Research Priority Program, Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
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6
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Combination of absolute pitch and tone language experience enhances lexical tone perception. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1485. [PMID: 33452284 PMCID: PMC7811026 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80260-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 12/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP), a unique ability to name or produce pitch without any reference, is known to be influenced by genetic and cultural factors. AP and tone language experience are both known to promote lexical tone perception. However, the effects of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception are currently not known. In the current study, using behavioral (Categorical Perception) and electrophysiological (Frequency Following Response) measures, we investigated the effect of the combination of AP and tone language experience on lexical tone perception. We found that the Cantonese speakers with AP outperformed the Cantonese speakers without AP on Categorical Perception and Frequency Following Responses of lexical tones, suggesting an additive effect due to the combination of AP and tone language experience. These findings suggest a role of basic sensory pre-attentive auditory processes towards pitch encoding in AP. Further, these findings imply a common mechanism underlying pitch encoding in AP and tone language perception.
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7
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Greber M, Jäncke L. Suppression of Pitch Labeling: No Evidence for an Impact of Absolute Pitch on Behavioral and Neurophysiological Measures of Cognitive Inhibition in an Auditory Go/Nogo Task. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:585505. [PMID: 33281584 PMCID: PMC7688746 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.585505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Pitch labeling in absolute pitch (AP), the ability to recognize the pitch class of a sound without an external reference, is effortless, fast, and presumably automatic. Previous studies have shown that pitch labeling in AP can interfere with task demands. In the current study, we used a cued auditory Go/Nogo task requiring same/different decisions to investigate both behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of increased inhibitory demands related to automatic pitch labeling. The task comprised two Nogo conditions: a Nogo condition with pitch differences larger than one semitone, and a second Nogo condition with pitch differences of only a quarter semitone. The first Nogo condition tested if auditory-related inhibition processes are generally altered in AP musicians. The second Nogo condition tested the suppressibility of the pitch labeling using a Stroop-like effect: the two tones belonged to the same pitch class but were not identical in terms of tone frequency. If pitch labeling cannot be suppressed, the conflicting information would be expected to increase the inhibitory load in AP musicians. Our data provided no evidence for an increased difficulty to inhibit a prepotent response or to suppress conflicting pitch-labeling information in AP: AP musicians showed similar commission error rates as non-AP musicians in both Nogo conditions. N2d and P3d amplitudes of AP musicians were also comparable to those of non-AP musicians. The event-related potentials (ERPs) were, however, modulated by the Nogo condition, probably indicating an effect of stimulus similarity. It is possible that, depending on the context, pitch labeling in AP musicians is not entirely automatic and can be suppressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marielle Greber
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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8
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Diminished large-scale functional brain networks in absolute pitch during the perception of naturalistic music and audiobooks. Neuroimage 2020; 216:116513. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Revised: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/31/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
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9
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Greber M, Klein C, Leipold S, Sele S, Jäncke L. Heterogeneity of EEG resting-state brain networks in absolute pitch. Int J Psychophysiol 2020; 157:11-22. [PMID: 32721558 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Revised: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 07/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The neural basis of absolute pitch (AP), the ability to effortlessly identify a musical tone without an external reference, is poorly understood. One of the key questions is whether perceptual or cognitive processes underlie the phenomenon, as both sensory and higher-order brain regions have been associated with AP. To integrate the perceptual and cognitive views on AP, here, we investigated joint contributions of sensory and higher-order brain regions to AP resting-state networks. We performed a comprehensive functional network analysis of source-level EEG in a large sample of AP musicians (n = 54) and non-AP musicians (n = 51), adopting two analysis approaches: First, we applied an ROI-based analysis to examine the connectivity between the auditory cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using several established functional connectivity measures. This analysis is a replication of a previous study which reported increased connectivity between these two regions in AP musicians. Second, we performed a whole-brain network-based analysis on the same functional connectivity measures to gain a more complete picture of the brain regions involved in a possibly large-scale network supporting AP ability. In our sample, the ROI-based analysis did not provide evidence for an AP-specific connectivity increase between the auditory cortex and the DLPFC. The whole-brain analysis revealed three networks with increased connectivity in AP musicians comprising nodes in frontal, temporal, subcortical, and occipital areas. Commonalities of the networks were found in both sensory and higher-order brain regions of the perisylvian area. Further research will be needed to confirm these exploratory results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marielle Greber
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Carina Klein
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Simon Leipold
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, USA
| | - Silvano Sele
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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10
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Leipold S, Greber M, Sele S, Jäncke L. Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception. Neuroimage 2019; 200:132-141. [PMID: 31238164 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.06.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 06/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Pitch is a fundamental attribute of sounds and yet is not perceived equally by all humans. Absolute pitch (AP) musicians perceive, recognize, and name pitches in absolute terms, whereas relative pitch (RP) musicians, representing the large majority of musicians, perceive pitches in relation to other pitches. In this study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural representations underlying tone listening and tone labeling in a large sample of musicians (n = 105). Participants performed a pitch processing task with a listening and a labeling condition during EEG acquisition. Using a brain-decoding framework, we tested a prediction derived from both theoretical and empirical accounts of AP, namely that the representational similarity of listening and labeling is higher in AP musicians than in RP musicians. Consistent with the prediction, time-resolved single-trial EEG decoding revealed a higher representational similarity in AP musicians during late stages of pitch perception. Time-frequency-resolved EEG decoding further showed that the higher representational similarity was present in oscillations in the theta and beta frequency bands. Supplemental univariate analyses were less sensitive in detecting subtle group differences in the frequency domain. Taken together, the results suggest differences between AP and RP musicians in late pitch processing stages associated with cognition, rather than in early processing stages associated with perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Leipold
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Marielle Greber
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Silvano Sele
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Special Education, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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11
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Absolute and relative pitch processing in the human brain: neural and behavioral evidence. Brain Struct Funct 2019; 224:1723-1738. [DOI: 10.1007/s00429-019-01872-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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