1
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Di Stefano N, Spence C. Should absolute pitch be considered as a unique kind of absolute sensory judgment in humans? A systematic and theoretical review of the literature. Cognition 2024; 249:105805. [PMID: 38761646 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 04/12/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
Absolute pitch is the name given to the rare ability to identify a musical note in an automatic and effortless manner without the need for a reference tone. Those individuals with absolute pitch can, for example, name the note they hear, identify all of the tones of a given chord, and/or name the pitches of everyday sounds, such as car horns or sirens. Hence, absolute pitch can be seen as providing a rare example of absolute sensory judgment in audition. Surprisingly, however, the intriguing question of whether such an ability presents unique features in the domain of sensory perception, or whether instead similar perceptual skills also exist in other sensory domains, has not been explicitly addressed previously. In this paper, this question is addressed by systematically reviewing research on absolute pitch using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method. Thereafter, we compare absolute pitch with two rare types of sensory experience, namely synaesthesia and eidetic memory, to understand if and how these phenomena exhibit similar features to absolute pitch. Furthermore, a common absolute perceptual ability that has been often compared to absolute pitch, namely colour perception, is also discussed. Arguments are provided supporting the notion that none of the examined abilities can be considered like absolute pitch. Therefore, we conclude by suggesting that absolute pitch does indeed appear to constitute a unique kind of absolute sensory judgment in humans, and we discuss some open issues and novel directions for future research in absolute pitch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Di Stefano
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Via Gian Domenico Romagnosi, 18, 00196 Rome, Italy.
| | - Charles Spence
- Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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2
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Tseng HC, Hsieh IH. Effects of absolute pitch on brain activation and functional connectivity during hearing-in-noise perception. Cortex 2024; 174:1-18. [PMID: 38484435 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024]
Abstract
Hearing-in-noise (HIN) ability is crucial in speech and music communication. Recent evidence suggests that absolute pitch (AP), the ability to identify isolated musical notes, is associated with HIN benefits. A theoretical account postulates a link between AP ability and neural network indices of segregation. However, how AP ability modulates the brain activation and functional connectivity underlying HIN perception remains unclear. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to contrast brain responses among a sample (n = 45) comprising 15 AP musicians, 15 non-AP musicians, and 15 non-musicians in perceiving Mandarin speech and melody targets under varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs: No-Noise, 0, -9 dB). Results reveal that AP musicians exhibited increased activation in auditory and superior frontal regions across both HIN domains (music and speech), irrespective of noise levels. Notably, substantially higher sensorimotor activation was found in AP musicians when the target was music compared to speech. Furthermore, we examined AP effects on neural connectivity using psychophysiological interaction analysis with the auditory cortex as the seed region. AP musicians showed decreased functional connectivity with the sensorimotor and middle frontal gyrus compared to non-AP musicians. Crucially, AP differentially affected connectivity with parietal and frontal brain regions depending on the HIN domain being music or speech. These findings suggest that AP plays a critical role in HIN perception, manifested by increased activation and functional independence between auditory and sensorimotor regions for perceiving music and speech streams.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung-Chen Tseng
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - I-Hui Hsieh
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan; Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
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3
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Borderie A, Caclin A, Lachaux JP, Perrone-Bertollotti M, Hoyer RS, Kahane P, Catenoix H, Tillmann B, Albouy P. Cross-frequency coupling in cortico-hippocampal networks supports the maintenance of sequential auditory information in short-term memory. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002512. [PMID: 38442128 PMCID: PMC10914261 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that cross-frequency coupling in cortico-hippocampal networks enables the maintenance of multiple visuo-spatial items in working memory. However, whether this mechanism acts as a global neural code for memory retention across sensory modalities remains to be demonstrated. Intracranial EEG data were recorded while drug-resistant patients with epilepsy performed a delayed matched-to-sample task with tone sequences. We manipulated task difficulty by varying the memory load and the duration of the silent retention period between the to-be-compared sequences. We show that the strength of theta-gamma phase amplitude coupling in the superior temporal sulcus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the inferior temporal gyrus, and the hippocampus (i) supports the short-term retention of auditory sequences; (ii) decodes correct and incorrect memory trials as revealed by machine learning analysis; and (iii) is positively correlated with individual short-term memory performance. Specifically, we show that successful task performance is associated with consistent phase coupling in these regions across participants, with gamma bursts restricted to specific theta phase ranges corresponding to higher levels of neural excitability. These findings highlight the role of cortico-hippocampal activity in auditory short-term memory and expand our knowledge about the role of cross-frequency coupling as a global biological mechanism for information processing, integration, and memory in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur Borderie
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), CRBLM, Montreal, Canada
| | - Anne Caclin
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
| | - Jean-Philippe Lachaux
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
| | | | - Roxane S. Hoyer
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
| | - Philippe Kahane
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Hélène Catenoix
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
- Department of Functional Neurology and Epileptology, Lyon Civil Hospices, member of the ERN EpiCARE, and Lyon 1 University, Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
- Laboratory for Research on Learning and Development, LEAD–CNRS UMR5022, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Philippe Albouy
- CERVO Brain Research Center, School of Psychology, Laval University, Québec, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), CRBLM, Montreal, Canada
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon CRNL U1028 UMR5292, Bron, France
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4
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Elmer S, Schmitt R, Giroud N, Meyer M. The neuroanatomical hallmarks of chronic tinnitus in comorbidity with pure-tone hearing loss. Brain Struct Funct 2023; 228:1511-1534. [PMID: 37349539 PMCID: PMC10335971 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-023-02669-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Tinnitus is one of the main hearing impairments often associated with pure-tone hearing loss, and typically manifested in the perception of phantom sounds. Nevertheless, tinnitus has traditionally been studied in isolation without necessarily considering auditory ghosting and hearing loss as part of the same syndrome. Hence, in the present neuroanatomical study, we attempted to pave the way toward a better understanding of the tinnitus syndrome, and compared two groups of almost perfectly matched individuals with (TIHL) and without (NTHL) pure-tone tinnitus, but both characterized by pure-tone hearing loss. The two groups were homogenized in terms of sample size, age, gender, handedness, education, and hearing loss. Furthermore, since the assessment of pure-tone hearing thresholds alone is not sufficient to describe the full spectrum of hearing abilities, the two groups were also harmonized for supra-threshold hearing estimates which were collected using temporal compression, frequency selectivity und speech-in-noise tasks. Regions-of-interest (ROI) analyses based on key brain structures identified in previous neuroimaging studies showed that the TIHL group exhibited increased cortical volume (CV) and surface area (CSA) of the right supramarginal gyrus and posterior planum temporale (PT) as well as CSA of the left middle-anterior part of the superior temporal sulcus (STS). The TIHL group also demonstrated larger volumes of the left amygdala and of the left head and body of the hippocampus. Notably, vertex-wise multiple linear regression analyses additionally brought to light that CSA of a specific cluster, which was located in the left middle-anterior part of the STS and overlapped with the one found to be significant in the between-group analyses, was positively associated with tinnitus distress level. Furthermore, distress also positively correlated with CSA of gray matter vertices in the right dorsal prefrontal cortex and the right posterior STS, whereas tinnitus duration was positively associated with CSA and CV of the right angular gyrus (AG) and posterior part of the STS. These results provide new insights into the critical gray matter architecture of the tinnitus syndrome matrix responsible for the emergence, maintenance and distress of auditory phantom sensations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Elmer
- Department of Computational Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Competence Center Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Raffael Schmitt
- Department of Computational Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nathalie Giroud
- Department of Computational Linguistics, Computational Neuroscience of Speech & Hearing, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroscience Zurich, University and ETH of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Competence Center Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Meyer
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for Neuroscience Zurich, University and ETH of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt, Austria
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5
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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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6
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Leite Filho CA, Rocha-Muniz CN, Pereira LD, Schochat E. Auditory temporal resolution and backward masking in musicians with absolute pitch. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1151776. [PMID: 37139520 PMCID: PMC10149789 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1151776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Among the many questions regarding the ability to effortlessly name musical notes without a reference, also known as absolute pitch, the neural processes by which this phenomenon operates are still a matter of debate. Although a perceptual subprocess is currently accepted by the literature, the participation of some aspects of auditory processing still needs to be determined. We conducted two experiments to investigate the relationship between absolute pitch and two aspects of auditory temporal processing, namely temporal resolution and backward masking. In the first experiment, musicians were organized into two groups according to the presence of absolute pitch, as determined by a pitch identification test, and compared regarding their performance in the Gaps-in-Noise test, a gap detection task for assessing temporal resolution. Despite the lack of statistically significant difference between the groups, the Gaps-in-Noise test measures were significant predictors of the measures for pitch naming precision, even after controlling for possible confounding variables. In the second experiment, another two groups of musicians with and without absolute pitch were submitted to the backward masking test, with no difference between the groups and no correlation between backward masking and absolute pitch measures. The results from both experiments suggest that only part of temporal processing is involved in absolute pitch, indicating that not all aspects of auditory perception are related to the perceptual subprocess. Possible explanations for these findings include the notable overlap of brain areas involved in both temporal resolution and absolute pitch, which is not present in the case of backward masking, and the relevance of temporal resolution to analyze the temporal fine structure of sound in pitch perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Alberto Leite Filho
- Auditory Processing Lab, Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- *Correspondence: Carlos Alberto Leite Filho,
| | - Caroline Nunes Rocha-Muniz
- Speech-Language Pathology Department, Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Liliane Desgualdo Pereira
- Neuroaudiology Lab, Department of Speech Therapy, Paulista School of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Eliane Schochat
- Auditory Processing Lab, Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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7
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Rogenmoser L, Arnicane A, Jäncke L, Elmer S. The left dorsal stream causally mediates the tone labeling in absolute pitch. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2021; 1500:122-133. [PMID: 34046902 PMCID: PMC8518498 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) refers to the ability to effortlessly identify given pitches without any reference. Correlative evidence suggests that the left posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is responsible for the process underlying pitch labeling in AP. Here, we measured the sight‐reading performance of right‐handed AP possessors and matched controls under cathodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation of the left DLPFC. The participants were instructed to report notations as accurately and as fast as possible by playing with their right hand on a piano. The notations were simultaneously presented with distracting auditory stimuli that either matched or mismatched them in different semitone degrees. Unlike the controls, AP possessors revealed an interference effect in that they responded slower in mismatching conditions than in the matching one. Under cathodal stimulation, this interference effect disappeared. These findings confirm that the pitch‐labeling process underlying AP occurs automatically and is largely nonsuppressible when triggered by tone exposure. The improvement of the AP possessors’ sight‐reading performances in response to the suppression of the left DLPFC using cathodal stimulation confirms a causal relationship between this brain structure and pitch labeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lars Rogenmoser
- Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Andra Arnicane
- Auditory Research Group Zurich (ARGZ), Division of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Auditory Research Group Zurich (ARGZ), Division of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Elmer
- Auditory Research Group Zurich (ARGZ), Division of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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8
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Deutsch D, Edelstein M, Dooley K, Henthorn T. Absolute pitch is disrupted by a memory illusion. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:2829. [PMID: 33940899 DOI: 10.1121/10.0004776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
An experiment is reported, showing that short-term memory for pitch in absolute pitch (AP) possessors, while substantially more accurate than in AP nonpossessors, is also subject to illusory conjunctions of pitch and time and so can be distorted or enhanced by a single tone embedded in a sequence of six other tones. Both AP possessors and AP nonpossessors performed a short-term memory task. A test tone was presented, then a sequence of six intervening tones, and then a probe tone. The test and probe tones either were identical in pitch or differed by a semitone. The AP nonpossessors judged whether the test and probe tones were the same or different, and the AP possessors identified the test and probe tones by name. In some conditions, a tone of identical pitch to the probe tone or an octave removed from this tone was included in the intervening sequence. In both the AP possessors and AP nonpossessors, this illusion-producing tone increased judgments that the test and probe tones were identical. These results accord with a model of the system underlying short-term memory for pitch proposed earlier and show that this system is bidimensional in nature, involving both pitch height and pitch class.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Deutsch
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
| | - Miren Edelstein
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
| | - Kevin Dooley
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, California 90747, USA
| | - Trevor Henthorn
- Department of Music, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
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9
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Germano NDG, Cogo-Moreira H, Coutinho-Lourenço F, Bortz G. A new approach to measuring absolute pitch on a psychometric theory of isolated pitch perception: Is it disentangling specific groups or capturing a continuous ability? PLoS One 2021; 16:e0247473. [PMID: 33617560 PMCID: PMC7899369 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Absolute Pitch (AP) is commonly defined as a rare ability that allows an individual to identify any pitch by name. Most researchers use classificatory tests for AP which tracks the number of isolated correct answers. However, each researcher chooses their own procedure for what should be considered correct or incorrect in measuring this ability. Consequently, it is impossible to evaluate comparatively how the stimuli and criteria classify individuals in the same way. We thus adopted a psychometric perspective, approaching AP as a latent trait. Via the Latent Variable Model, we evaluated the consistency and validity for a measure to test for AP ability. A total of 783 undergraduate music students participated in the test. The test battery comprised 10 isolated pitches. All collected data were analyzed with two different rating criteria (perfect and imperfect) under three Latent Variable Model approaches: continuous (Item Response Theory with two and three parameters), categorical (Latent Class Analysis), and the Hybrid model. According to model fit information indices, the perfect approach (only exact pitch responses as correct) measurement model had a better fit under the trait (continuous) specification. This contradicts the usual assumption of a division between AP and non-AP possessors. Alternatively, the categorical solution for the two classes demonstrated the best solution for the imperfect approach (exact pitch responses and semitone deviations considered as correct).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hugo Cogo-Moreira
- School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China
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10
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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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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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12
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The importance of the fibre tracts connecting the planum temporale in absolute pitch possessors. Neuroimage 2020; 211:116590. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2019] [Revised: 01/26/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
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13
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Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) refers to the rare ability to name the pitch of a tone without external reference. It is widely believed to be only for the selected few with rare genetic makeup and early musical training during the critical period, and therefore acquiring AP in adulthood is impossible. Previous studies have not offered a strong test of the effect of training because of issues like small sample size and insufficient training. In three experiments, adults learned to name pitches in a computerized, gamified and personalized training protocol for 12 to 40 hours, with the number of pitches gradually increased from three to twelve. Across the three experiments, the training covered different octaves, timbre, and training environment (inside or outside laboratory). AP learning showed classic characteristics of perceptual learning, including generalization of learning dependent on the training stimuli, and sustained improvement for at least one to three months. 14% of the participants (6 out of 43) were able to name twelve pitches at 90% or above accuracy, comparable to that of 'AP possessors' as defined in the literature. Overall, AP continues to be learnable in adulthood, which challenges the view that AP development requires both rare genetic predisposition and learning within the critical period. The finding calls for reconsideration of the role of learning in the occurrence of AP, and pushes the field to pinpoint and explain the differences, if any, between the aspects of AP more trainable in adulthood and the aspects of AP that are potentially exclusive for the few exceptional AP possessors observed in the real world.
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14
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Paterson E, Sanderson PM, Brecknell B, Paterson NAB, Loeb RG. Comparison of Standard and Enhanced Pulse Oximeter Auditory Displays of Oxygen Saturation. Anesth Analg 2019; 129:997-1004. [DOI: 10.1213/ane.0000000000004267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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15
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Sharma VV, Thaut M, Russo F, Alain C. Absolute Pitch and Musical Expertise Modulate Neuro-Electric and Behavioral Responses in an Auditory Stroop Paradigm. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:932. [PMID: 31551690 PMCID: PMC6743413 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Musicians have considerable experience naming pitch-classes with verbal (e.g., Doh, Ré, and Mi) and semiotic tags (e.g., musical notation). On the one end of the spectrum, musicians can identify the pitch of a piano tone or quality of a chord without a reference tone [i.e., absolute pitch (AP) or relative pitch], which suggests strong associations between the perceived pitch information and verbal labels. Here, we examined the strength of this association using auditory versions of the Stroop task while neuro-electric brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. In separate blocks of trials, participants were presented with congruent or incongruent auditory words from English language (standard auditory Stroop), Romanic solemnization, or German key lexicons (the latter two versions require some knowledge of music notation). We hypothesized that musically trained groups would show greater Stroop interference effects when presented with incongruent musical notations than non-musicians. Analyses of behavioral data revealed small or even non-existent congruency effects in musicians for solfège and keycodes versions of the Stroop task. This finding was unexpected and appears inconsistent with the hypothesis that musical training and AP are associated with high strength response level associations between a perceived pitch and verbal label. The analyses of event-related potentials revealed three temporally distinct modulations associated with conflict processing. All three modulations were larger in the auditory word Stroop than in the other two versions of the Stroop task. Only AP musicians showed significant congruity effects around 450 and 750 ms post-stimulus when stimuli were presented as Germanic keycodes (i.e., C or G). This finding suggests that AP possessors may process alpha-numeric encodings as word forms with a semantic value, unlike their RP possessing counterparts and non-musically trained individuals. However, the strength of musical conditional associations may not exceed that of standard language in speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek V Sharma
- Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Michael Thaut
- Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Frank Russo
- Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Claude Alain
- Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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16
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Perception and Cognition in Absolute Pitch: Distinct yet Inseparable. J Neurosci 2019; 39:5839-5841. [PMID: 31341067 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0653-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
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17
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Matsuda M, Igarashi H, Itoh K. Auditory T-Complex Reveals Reduced Neural Activities in the Right Auditory Cortex in Musicians With Absolute Pitch. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:809. [PMID: 31447632 PMCID: PMC6691098 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Accepted: 07/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to identify the pitch names of arbitrary musical tones without being given a reference pitch. The acquisition of AP typically requires early musical training, the critical time window for which is similar to that for the acquisition of a first language. This study investigated the left-right asymmetry of the auditory cortical functions responsible for AP by focusing on the T-complex of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), which shows morphological changes during the critical period for language acquisition. AEPs evoked by a pure-tone stimulus were recorded in high-AP musicians, low-AP musicians, and non-musicians (n = 19 each). A balanced non-cephalic electrode (BNE) reference was used to examine the left-right asymmetry of the N1a and N1c components of the T-complex. As a result, a left-dominant N1c was observed only in the high-AP musician group, indicating "AP negativity," which has previously been described as an electrophysiological marker of AP. Notably, this hemispheric asymmetry was due to a diminution of the right N1c rather than enhancement of the left N1c. A left-dominant N1a was found in both musician groups, irrespective of AP. N1c and N1a exhibited no left-right asymmetry in non-musicians. Hence, music training and the acquisition of AP are both accompanied by a left-dominant hemispheric specialization of auditory cortical functions, as indexed by N1a and N1c, respectively, but the N1c asymmetry in AP possessors was due to reduced neural activities in the right hemisphere. The use of a BNE is recommended for evaluating these radially oriented components of the T-complex.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kosuke Itoh
- Center for Integrated Human Brain Science, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
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18
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Wenhart T, Bethlehem RAI, Baron-Cohen S, Altenmüller E. Autistic traits, resting-state connectivity, and absolute pitch in professional musicians: shared and distinct neural features. Mol Autism 2019; 10:20. [PMID: 31073395 PMCID: PMC6498518 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-019-0272-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recent studies indicate increased autistic traits in musicians with absolute pitch and a higher proportion of absolute pitch in people with autism. Theoretical accounts connect both of these with shared neural principles of local hyper- and global hypoconnectivity, enhanced perceptual functioning, and a detail-focused cognitive style. This is the first study to investigate absolute pitch proficiency, autistic traits, and brain correlates in the same study. Sample and methods Graph theoretical analysis was conducted on resting-state (eyes closed and eyes open) EEG connectivity (wPLI, weighted phase lag index) matrices obtained from 31 absolute pitch (AP) and 33 relative pitch (RP) professional musicians. Small-worldness, global clustering coefficient, and average path length were related to autistic traits, passive (tone identification) and active (pitch adjustment) absolute pitch proficiency, and onset of musical training using Welch two-sample tests, correlations, and general linear models. Results Analyses revealed increased path length (delta 2–4 Hz), reduced clustering (beta 13–18 Hz), reduced small-worldness (gamma 30–60 Hz), and increased autistic traits for AP compared to RP. Only clustering values (beta 13–18 Hz) were predicted by both AP proficiency and autistic traits. Post hoc single connection permutation tests among raw wPLI matrices in the beta band (13–18 Hz) revealed widely reduced interhemispheric connectivity between bilateral auditory-related electrode positions along with higher connectivity between F7–F8 and F8–P9 for AP. Pitch-naming ability and pitch adjustment ability were predicted by path length, clustering, autistic traits, and onset of musical training (for pitch adjustment) explaining 44% and 38% of variance, respectively. Conclusions Results show both shared and distinct neural features between AP and autistic traits. Differences in the beta range were associated with higher autistic traits in the same population. In general, AP musicians exhibit a widely underconnected brain with reduced functional integration and reduced small-world property during resting state. This might be partly related to autism-specific brain connectivity, while differences in path length and small-worldness reflect other ability-specific influences. This is further evidenced for different pathways in the acquisition and development of absolute pitch, likely influenced by both genetic and environmental factors and their interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Wenhart
- Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, University for Music, Drama and Media, Hannover, Germany.,2Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover, Germany
| | - R A I Bethlehem
- 3Autism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - S Baron-Cohen
- 3Autism Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - E Altenmüller
- Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, University for Music, Drama and Media, Hannover, Germany.,2Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover, Germany
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19
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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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20
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Brauchli C, Leipold S, Jäncke L. Univariate and multivariate analyses of functional networks in absolute pitch. Neuroimage 2019; 189:241-247. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Revised: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
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21
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Coll SY, Vuichoud N, Grandjean D, James CE. Electrical Neuroimaging of Music Processing in Pianists With and Without True Absolute Pitch. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:142. [PMID: 30967751 PMCID: PMC6424903 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2018] [Accepted: 02/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
True absolute pitch (AP), labeling of pitches with semitone precision without a reference, is classically studied using isolated tones. However, AP is acquired and has its function within complex dynamic musical contexts. Here we examined event-related brain responses and underlying cerebral sources to endings of short expressive string quartets, investigating a homogeneous population of young highly trained pianists with half of them possessing true-AP. The pieces ended regularly or contained harmonic transgressions at closure that participants appraised. Given the millisecond precision of ERP analyses, this experimental plan allowed examining whether AP alters music processing at an early perceptual, or later cognitive level, or both, and which cerebral sources underlie differences with non-AP musicians. We also investigated the impact of AP on general auditory cognition. Remarkably, harmonic transgression sensitivity did not differ between AP and non-AP participants, and differences for auditory cognition were only marginal. The key finding of this study is the involvement of a microstate peaking around 60 ms after musical closure, characterizing AP participants. Concurring sources were estimated in secondary auditory areas, comprising the planum temporale, all transgression conditions collapsed. These results suggest that AP is not a panacea to become a proficient musician, but a rare perceptual feature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sélim Yahia Coll
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Noémi Vuichoud
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Didier Grandjean
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Clara Eline James
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,School of Health Sciences Geneva HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Geneva, Switzerland.,Geneva Neuroscience Center University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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22
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Larger Auditory Cortical Area and Broader Frequency Tuning Underlie Absolute Pitch. J Neurosci 2019; 39:2930-2937. [PMID: 30745420 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1532-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Revised: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP), the ability of some musicians to precisely identify and name musical tones in isolation, is associated with a number of gross morphological changes in the brain, but the fundamental neural mechanisms underlying this ability have not been clear. We presented a series of logarithmic frequency sweeps to age- and sex-matched groups of musicians with or without AP and controls without musical training. We used fMRI and population receptive field (pRF) modeling to measure the responses in the auditory cortex in 61 human subjects. The tuning response of each fMRI voxel was characterized as Gaussian, with independent center frequency and bandwidth parameters. We identified three distinct tonotopic maps, corresponding to primary (A1), rostral (R), and rostral-temporal (RT) regions of auditory cortex. We initially hypothesized that AP abilities might manifest in sharper tuning in the auditory cortex. However, we observed that AP subjects had larger cortical area, with the increased area primarily devoted to broader frequency tuning. We observed anatomically that A1, R and RT were significantly larger in AP musicians than in non-AP musicians or control subjects, which did not differ significantly from each other. The increased cortical area in AP in areas A1 and R were primarily low frequency and broadly tuned, whereas the distribution of responses in area RT did not differ significantly. We conclude that AP abilities are associated with increased early auditory cortical area devoted to broad-frequency tuning and likely exploit increased ensemble encoding.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Absolute pitch (AP), the ability of some musicians to precisely identify and name musical tones in isolation, is associated with a number of gross morphological changes in the brain, but the fundamental neural mechanisms have not been clear. Our study shows that AP musicians have significantly larger volume in early auditory cortex than non-AP musicians and non-musician controls and that this increased volume is primarily devoted to broad-frequency tuning. We conclude that AP musicians are likely able to exploit increased ensemble representations to encode and identify frequency.
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23
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Early tone categorization in absolute pitch musicians is subserved by the right-sided perisylvian brain. Sci Rep 2019; 9:1419. [PMID: 30723232 PMCID: PMC6363806 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-38273-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is defined as the ability to identify and label tones without reference to keyality. In this context, the main question is whether early or late processing stages are responsible for this ability. We investigated the electrophysiological responses to tones in AP and relative pitch (RP) possessors while participants listened attentively to sine tones. Since event-related potentials are particularly suited for tracking tone encoding (N100 and P200), categorization (N200), and mnemonic functions (N400), we hypothesized that differences in early pitch processing stages would be reflected by increased N100 and P200-related areas in AP musicians. Otherwise, differences in later cognitive stages of tone processing should be mirrored by increased N200 and/or N400 areas in AP musicians. AP possessors exhibited larger N100 areas and a tendency towards enhanced P200 areas. Furthermore, the sources of these components were estimated and statistically compared between the two groups for a set of a priori defined regions of interest. AP musicians demonstrated increased N100-related current densities in the right superior temporal sulcus, middle temporal gyrus, and Heschl’s gyrus. Results are interpreted as indicating that early between-group differences in right-sided perisylvian brain regions might reflect auditory tone categorization rather than labelling mechanisms.
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24
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A reevaluation of the electrophysiological correlates of absolute pitch and relative pitch: No evidence for an absolute pitch-specific negativity. Int J Psychophysiol 2019; 137:21-31. [PMID: 30610912 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2018] [Revised: 12/06/2018] [Accepted: 12/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Musicians with absolute pitch effortlessly identify the pitch of a sound without an external reference. Previous neuroscientific studies on absolute pitch have typically had small samples sizes and low statistical power, making them susceptible for false positive findings. In a seminal study, Itoh et al. (2005) reported the elicitation of an absolute pitch-specific event-related potential component during tone listening - the AP negativity. Additionally, they identified several components as correlates of relative pitch, the ability to identify relations between pitches. Here, we attempted to replicate the main findings of Itoh et al.'s study in a large sample of musicians (n = 104) using both frequentist and Bayesian inference. We were not able to replicate the presence of an AP negativity during tone listening in individuals with high levels of absolute pitch, but we partially replicated the findings concerning the correlates of relative pitch. Our results are consistent with several previous studies reporting an absence of differences between musicians with and without absolute pitch in early auditory evoked potential components. We conclude that replication studies form a crucial part in assessing extraordinary findings, even more so in small fields where a single finding can have a large impact on further research.
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25
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Greber M, Rogenmoser L, Elmer S, Jäncke L. Electrophysiological Correlates of Absolute Pitch in a Passive Auditory Oddball Paradigm: a Direct Replication Attempt. eNeuro 2018; 5:ENEURO.0333-18.2018. [PMID: 30637328 PMCID: PMC6327942 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0333-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Revised: 11/02/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans with absolute pitch (AP) are able to effortlessly name the pitch class of a sound without an external reference. The association of labels with pitches cannot be entirely suppressed even if it interferes with task demands. This suggests a high level of automaticity of pitch labeling in AP. The automatic nature of AP was further investigated in a study by Rogenmoser et al. (2015). Using a passive auditory oddball paradigm in combination with electroencephalography, they observed electrophysiological differences between musicians with and without AP in response to piano tones. Specifically, the AP musicians showed a smaller P3a, an event-related potential (ERP) component presumably reflecting early attentional processes. In contrast, they did not find group differences in the mismatch negativity (MMN), an ERP component associated with auditory memory processes. They concluded that early cognitive processes are facilitated in AP during passive listening and are more important for AP than the preceding sensory processes. In our direct replication study on a larger sample of musicians with (n = 54, 27 females, 27 males) and without (n = 50, 24 females, 26 males) AP, we successfully replicated the non-significant effects of AP on the MMN. However, we could not replicate the significant effects for the P3a. Additional Bayes factor analyses revealed moderate to strong evidence (Bayes factor > 3) for the null hypothesis for both MMN and P3a. Therefore, the results of this replication study do not support the postulated importance of cognitive facilitation in AP during passive tone listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marielle Greber
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lars Rogenmoser
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007
| | - Stefan Elmer
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
- University Research Priority Program (URPP), Dynamics of Healthy Aging, University of Zurich, CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Special Education, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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26
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No otoacoustic evidence for a peripheral basis of absolute pitch. Hear Res 2018; 370:201-208. [PMID: 30190151 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2018] [Revised: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to identify the perceived pitch of a sound without an external reference. Relatively rare, with an incidence of approximately 1/10,000, the mechanisms underlying AP are not well understood. This study examined otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) to determine if there is evidence of a peripheral (i.e., cochlear) basis for AP. Two OAE types were examined: spontaneous emissions (SOAEs) and stimulus-frequency emissions (SFOAEs). Our motivations to explore a peripheral foundation for AP were several-fold. First is the observation that pitch judgment accuracy has been reported to decrease with age due to age-dependent physiological changes cochlear biomechanics. Second is the notion that SOAEs, which are indirectly related to perception, could act as a fixed frequency reference. Third, SFOAE delays, which have been demonstrated to serve as a proxy measure for cochlear frequency selectivity, could indicate tuning differences between groups. These led us to the hypotheses that AP subjects would (relative to controls) exhibit a. greater SOAE activity and b. sharper cochlear tuning. To test these notions, measurements were made in normal-hearing control (N = 33) and AP-possessor (N = 20) populations. In short, no substantial difference in SOAE activity was found between groups, indicating no evidence for one or more strong SOAEs that could act as a fixed cue. SFOAE phase-gradient delays, measured at several different probe levels (20-50 dB SPL), also showed no significant differences between groups. This observation argues against sharper cochlear frequency selectivity in AP subjects. Taken together, these data support the prevailing view that AP mechanisms predominantly arise at a processing level in the central nervous system (CNS) at the brainstem or higher, not within the cochlea.
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27
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Tsai CG, Chou TL, Li CW. Roles of posterior parietal and dorsal premotor cortices in relative pitch processing: Comparing musical intervals to lexical tones. Neuropsychologia 2018; 119:118-127. [PMID: 30056054 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2018] [Revised: 07/24/2018] [Accepted: 07/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Humans use time-varying pitch patterns to convey information in music and speech. Recognition of musical melodies and lexical tones relies on relative pitch (RP), the ability to identify intervals between two pitches. RP processing in music is usually more fine-grained than that in tonal languages. In Western music, there are twelve pitch categories within an octave, whereas there are only three level (non-glide) lexical tones in Taiwanese (or Taiwanese Hokkien, a tonal language). The present study aimed at comparing the neural substrates underlying RP processing of musical melodic intervals with that of level lexical tones in Taiwanese. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data from fourteen participants with good RP were analyzed. The results showed that imagining the sounds of visually presented musical intervals was associated with enhanced activity in the central subregion of the right dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), right posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and right dorsal precuneus compared to auditory imagery of visually presented Taiwanese bi-character words with level lexical tones. During the sound-congruence-judgement task (auditory imagery of musical intervals or bi-character words, and subsequently judging if the imagined sounds were melodically congruent with heard sounds), the contrast of the musical minus linguistic conditions yielded activity in the bilateral dPMC-PPC network and dorsal precuneus, with the dPMC activated in the rostral subregion. The central dPMC and PPC may mediate the attention-based maintenance of pitch intervals, whereas the dorsal precuneus may support attention control and the spatial/sensorimotor processing of the fine-grained pitch structures of music. When judging the congruence between the imagined and heard musical intervals, the bilateral rostral dPMC may play a role in attention control, working memory, evaluation of motor activities, and monitoring mechanisms. Based on the findings of this study and recent studies of amusia, we suggest that higher order cognitive operations are critical to the more fine-grained pitch processing of musical melodies compared to lexical tones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Gia Tsai
- Graduate Institute of Musicology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Wei Li
- Department of Radiology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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28
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29
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Sihvonen AJ, Särkämö T, Ripollés P, Leo V, Saunavaara J, Parkkola R, Rodríguez-Fornells A, Soinila S. Functional neural changes associated with acquired amusia across different stages of recovery after stroke. Sci Rep 2017; 7:11390. [PMID: 28900231 PMCID: PMC5595783 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11841-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain damage causing acquired amusia disrupts the functional music processing system, creating a unique opportunity to investigate the critical neural architectures of musical processing in the brain. In this longitudinal fMRI study of stroke patients (N = 41) with a 6-month follow-up, we used natural vocal music (sung with lyrics) and instrumental music stimuli to uncover brain activation and functional network connectivity changes associated with acquired amusia and its recovery. In the acute stage, amusic patients exhibited decreased activation in right superior temporal areas compared to non-amusic patients during instrumental music listening. During the follow-up, the activation deficits expanded to comprise a wide-spread bilateral frontal, temporal, and parietal network. The amusics showed less activation deficits to vocal music, suggesting preserved processing of singing in the amusic brain. Compared to non-recovered amusics, recovered amusics showed increased activation to instrumental music in bilateral frontoparietal areas at 3 months and in right middle and inferior frontal areas at 6 months. Amusia recovery was also associated with increased functional connectivity in right and left frontoparietal attention networks to instrumental music. Overall, our findings reveal the dynamic nature of deficient activation and connectivity patterns in acquired amusia and highlight the role of dorsal networks in amusia recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksi J Sihvonen
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, 20520, Turku, Finland. .,Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Teppo Särkämö
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pablo Ripollés
- Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of Barcelona, 08035, Barcelona, Spain.,Poeppel Lab, Department of Psychology, New York University, 10003, NY, USA
| | - Vera Leo
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jani Saunavaara
- Department of Medical Physics, Turku University Hospital, 20521, Turku, Finland
| | - Riitta Parkkola
- Department of Radiology, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, 20521, Turku, Finland
| | - Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells
- Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08907, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of Barcelona, 08035, Barcelona, Spain.,Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Seppo Soinila
- Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Turku University Hospital and Department of Neurology, University of Turku, 20521, Turku, Finland
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30
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Kim S, Blake R, Lee M, Kim CY. Audio-visual interactions uniquely contribute to resolution of visual conflict in people possessing absolute pitch. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0175103. [PMID: 28380058 PMCID: PMC5381860 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2016] [Accepted: 02/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals possessing absolute pitch (AP) are able to identify a given musical tone or to reproduce it without reference to another tone. The present study sought to learn whether this exceptional auditory ability impacts visual perception under stimulus conditions that provoke visual competition in the form of binocular rivalry. Nineteen adult participants with 3–19 years of musical training were divided into two groups according to their performance on a task involving identification of the specific note associated with hearing a given musical pitch. During test trials lasting just over half a minute, participants dichoptically viewed a scrolling musical score presented to one eye and a drifting sinusoidal grating presented to the other eye; throughout the trial they pressed buttons to track the alternations in visual awareness produced by these dissimilar monocular stimuli. On “pitch-congruent” trials, participants heard an auditory melody that was congruent in pitch with the visual score, on “pitch-incongruent” trials they heard a transposed auditory melody that was congruent with the score in melody but not in pitch, and on “melody-incongruent” trials they heard an auditory melody completely different from the visual score. For both groups, the visual musical scores predominated over the gratings when the auditory melody was congruent compared to when it was incongruent. Moreover, the AP participants experienced greater predominance of the visual score when it was accompanied by the pitch-congruent melody compared to the same melody transposed in pitch; for non-AP musicians, pitch-congruent and pitch-incongruent trials yielded equivalent predominance. Analysis of individual durations of dominance revealed differential effects on dominance and suppression durations for AP and non-AP participants. These results reveal that AP is accompanied by a robust form of bisensory interaction between tonal frequencies and musical notation that boosts the salience of a visual score.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sujin Kim
- Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Randolph Blake
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Minyoung Lee
- Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Chai-Youn Kim
- Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea
- * E-mail:
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Verbal and musical short-term memory: Variety of auditory disorders after stroke. Brain Cogn 2017; 113:10-22. [PMID: 28088063 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2017.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2016] [Revised: 01/01/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Auditory cognitive deficits after stroke may concern language and/or music processing, resulting in aphasia and/or amusia. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential deficits of auditory short-term memory for verbal and musical material after stroke and their underlying cerebral correlates with a Voxel-based Lesion Symptom Mapping approach (VLSM). Patients with an ischemic stroke in the right (N=10) or left (N=10) middle cerebral artery territory and matched control participants (N=14) were tested with a detailed neuropsychological assessment including global cognitive functions, music perception and language tasks. All participants then performed verbal and musical auditory short-term memory (STM) tasks that were implemented in the same way for both materials. Participants had to indicate whether series of four words or four tones presented in pairs, were the same or different. To detect domain-general STM deficits, they also had to perform a visual STM task. Behavioral results showed that patients had lower performance for the STM tasks in comparison with control participants, regardless of the material (words, tones, visual) and the lesion side. The individual patient data showed a double dissociation between some patients exhibiting verbal deficits without musical deficits or the reverse. Exploratory VLSM analyses suggested that dorsal pathways are involved in verbal (phonetic), musical (melodic), and visual STM, while the ventral auditory pathway is involved in musical STM.
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Chavarria-Soley G. Absolute pitch in Costa Rica: Distribution of pitch identification ability and implications for its genetic basis. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:891. [PMID: 27586721 DOI: 10.1121/1.4960569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Absolute pitch is the unusual ability to recognize a pitch without an external reference. The current view is that both environmental and genetic factors are involved in the acquisition of the trait. In the present study, 127 adult musicians were subjected to a musical tone identification test. Subjects were university music students and volunteers who responded to a newspaper article. The test consisted of the identification of 40 piano and 40 pure tones. Subjects were classified in three categories according to their pitch naming ability: absolute pitch (AP), high accuracy of tone identification (HA), and non-absolute pitch (non-AP). Both the percentage of correct responses and the mean absolute deviation showed a statistically significant variation between categories. A very clear pattern of higher accuracy for white than for black key notes was observed for the HA and the non-AP groups. Meanwhile, the AP group had an almost perfect pitch naming accuracy for both kinds of tones. Each category presented a very different pattern of deviation around the correct response. The age at the beginning of musical training did not differ between categories. The distribution of pitch identification ability in this study suggests a complex inheritance of the trait.
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33
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Impaired short-term memory for pitch in congenital amusia. Brain Res 2016; 1640:251-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.10.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2015] [Revised: 10/11/2015] [Accepted: 10/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Ripollés P, Rojo N, Grau-Sánchez J, Amengual JL, Càmara E, Marco-Pallarés J, Juncadella M, Vaquero L, Rubio F, Duarte E, Garrido C, Altenmüller E, Münte TF, Rodríguez-Fornells A. Music supported therapy promotes motor plasticity in individuals with chronic stroke. Brain Imaging Behav 2015; 10:1289-1307. [DOI: 10.1007/s11682-015-9498-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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35
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Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) refers to the rare ability to identify the chroma of a tone or to produce a specific pitch without reference to keyality (e.g., G or C). Previously, AP has been proposed to rely on the distinctive functional-anatomical architecture of the left auditory-related cortex (ARC), this specific trait possibly enabling an optimized early "categorical perception". In contrast, currently prevailing models of AP postulate that cognitive rather than perceptual processes, namely "pitch labeling" mechanisms, more likely constitute the bearing skeleton of AP. This associative memory component has previously been proposed to be dependent, among other mechanisms, on the recruitment of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as well as on the integrity of the left arcuate fasciculus, a fiber bundle linking the posterior supratemporal plane with the DLPFC. Here, we attempted to integrate these two apparently conflicting perspectives on AP, namely early "categorical perception" and "pitch labeling". We used electroencephalography and evaluated resting-state intracranial functional connectivity between the left ARC and DLPFC in a sample of musicians with and without AP. Results demonstrate significantly increased left-hemispheric theta phase synchronization in AP compared with non-AP musicians. Within the AP group, this specific electrophysiological marker was predictive of absolute-hearing behavior and explained ∼30% of variance. Thus, we propose that in AP subjects the tonal inputs and the corresponding mnemonic representations are tightly coupled in such a manner that the distinctive electrophysiological signature of AP can saliently be detected in only 3 min of resting-state measurements.
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Rogenmoser L, Elmer S, Jäncke L. Absolute Pitch: Evidence for Early Cognitive Facilitation during Passive Listening as Revealed by Reduced P3a Amplitudes. J Cogn Neurosci 2015; 27:623-37. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to identify or produce different pitches without using reference tones. At least two sequential processing stages are assumed to contribute to this phenomenon. The first recruits a pitch memory mechanism at an early stage of auditory processing, whereas the second is driven by a later cognitive mechanism (pitch labeling). Several investigations have used active tasks, but it is unclear how these two mechanisms contribute to AP during passive listening. The present work investigated the temporal dynamics of tone processing in AP and non-AP (NAP) participants by using EEG. We applied a passive oddball paradigm with between- and within-tone category manipulations and analyzed the MMN reflecting the early stage of auditory processing and the P3a response reflecting the later cognitive mechanism during the second processing stage. Results did not reveal between-group differences in MMN waveforms. By contrast, the P3a response was specifically associated with AP and sensitive to the processing of different pitch types. Specifically, AP participants exhibited smaller P3a amplitudes, especially in between-tone category conditions, and P3a responses correlated significantly with the age of commencement of musical training, suggesting an influence of early musical exposure on AP. Our results reinforce the current opinion that the representation of pitches at the processing level of the auditory-related cortex is comparable among AP and NAP participants, whereas the later processing stage is critical for AP. Results are interpreted as reflecting cognitive facilitation in AP participants, possibly driven by the availability of multiple codes for tones.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lutz Jäncke
- 1University of Zurich
- 2King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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Hou J, Chen C, Dong Q. Resting-state functional connectivity and pitch identification ability in non-musicians. Front Neurosci 2015; 9:7. [PMID: 25717289 PMCID: PMC4324073 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2015.00007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2014] [Accepted: 01/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have used task-related fMRI to investigate the neural basis of pitch identification (PI), but no study has examined the associations between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and PI ability. Using a large sample of Chinese non-musicians (N = 320, with 56 having prior musical training), the current study examined the associations among musical training, PI ability, and RSFC. Results showed that musical training was associated with increased RSFC within the networks for multiple cognitive functions (such as vision, phonology, semantics, auditory encoding, and executive functions). PI ability was associated with RSFC with regions for perceptual and auditory encoding for participants with musical training, and with RSFC with regions for short-term memory, semantics, and phonology for participants without musical training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiancheng Hou
- State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Department of Psychology, Ohio State University Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Chuansheng Chen
- Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Qi Dong
- State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
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38
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Albouy P, Mattout J, Sanchez G, Tillmann B, Caclin A. Altered retrieval of melodic information in congenital amusia: insights from dynamic causal modeling of MEG data. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:20. [PMID: 25698955 PMCID: PMC4316716 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2014] [Accepted: 01/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Congenital amusia is a neuro-developmental disorder that primarily manifests as a difficulty in the perception and memory of pitch-based materials, including music. Recent findings have shown that the amusic brain exhibits altered functioning of a fronto-temporal network during pitch perception and short-term memory. Within this network, during the encoding of melodies, a decreased right backward frontal-to-temporal connectivity was reported in amusia, along with an abnormal connectivity within and between auditory cortices. The present study investigated whether connectivity patterns between these regions were affected during the short-term memory retrieval of melodies. Amusics and controls had to indicate whether sequences of six tones that were presented in pairs were the same or different. When melodies were different only one tone changed in the second melody. Brain responses to the changed tone in "Different" trials and to its equivalent (original) tone in "Same" trials were compared between groups using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM). DCM results confirmed that congenital amusia is characterized by an altered effective connectivity within and between the two auditory cortices during sound processing. Furthermore, right temporal-to-frontal message passing was altered in comparison to controls, with notably an increase in "Same" trials. An additional analysis in control participants emphasized that the detection of an unexpected event in the typically functioning brain is supported by right fronto-temporal connections. The results can be interpreted in a predictive coding framework as reflecting an abnormal prediction error sent by temporal auditory regions towards frontal areas in the amusic brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Albouy
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada
| | - Jérémie Mattout
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
| | - Gaëtan Sanchez
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
| | - Barbara Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
| | - Anne Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028; University Lyon 1Lyon, France
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39
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40
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Mueller JL, Rueschemeyer SA, Ono K, Sugiura M, Sadato N, Nakamura A. Neural networks involved in learning lexical-semantic and syntactic information in a second language. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1209. [PMID: 25400602 PMCID: PMC4214356 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2014] [Accepted: 10/06/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of language acquisition in a realistic learning environment. Japanese native speakers were trained in a miniature version of German prior to fMRI scanning. During scanning they listened to (1) familiar sentences, (2) sentences including a novel sentence structure, and (3) sentences containing a novel word while visual context provided referential information. Learning-related decreases of brain activation over time were found in a mainly left-hemispheric network comprising classical frontal and temporal language areas as well as parietal and subcortical regions and were largely overlapping for novel words and the novel sentence structure in initial stages of learning. Differences occurred at later stages of learning during which content-specific activation patterns in prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices emerged. The results are taken as evidence for a domain-general network supporting the initial stages of language learning which dynamically adapts as learners become proficient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jutta L Mueller
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück Osnabrück, Germany ; Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Kentaro Ono
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Obu, Japan ; Human Brain Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University Japan
| | - Motoaki Sugiura
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University Sendai, Japan ; Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences Okazaki, Japan
| | - Norihiro Sadato
- Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences Okazaki, Japan
| | - Akinori Nakamura
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Obu, Japan
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41
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Abstract
Perfect pitch, or absolute pitch (AP), is defined as the ability to identify or produce the pitch of a sound without need for a reference pitch, and is generally regarded as a valuable asset to the musician. However, there has been no recent review of the literature examining its aetiology and its utility taking into account emerging scientific advances in AP research, notably in functional imaging. This review analyses the key empirical research on AP, focusing on genetic and neuroimaging studies. The review concludes that: AP probably has a genetic predisposition, although this is based on limited evidence; early musical training is almost certainly essential for AP acquisition; and, although there is evidence that it may be relevant to speech processing, AP can interfere with relative pitch, an ability on which humans rely to communicate effectively. The review calls into question the value of AP to musicians and non-musicians alike.
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Affiliation(s)
- Calum Moulton
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust London, UK Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
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42
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Sheedy CM, Power AJ, Reilly RB, Crosse MJ, Loughnane GM, Lalor EC. Endogenous auditory frequency-based attention modulates electroencephalogram-based measures of obligatory sensory activity in humans. Neuroreport 2014; 25:219-25. [PMID: 24231831 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000000070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Auditory selective attention is the ability to enhance the processing of a single sound source, while simultaneously suppressing the processing of other competing sound sources. Recent research has addressed a long-running debate by showing that endogenous attention produces effects on obligatory sensory responses to continuous and competing auditory stimuli. However, until now, this result has only been shown under conditions where the competing stimuli differed in both their frequency characteristics and, importantly, their spatial location. Thus, it is unknown whether endogenous selective attention based only on nonspatial features modulates obligatory sensory processing. Here, we investigate this issue using a diotic paradigm, such that competing auditory stimuli differ in frequency, but had no separation in space. We find a significant effect of attention on electroencephalogram-based measures of obligatory sensory processing at several poststimulus latencies. We discuss these results in terms of previous research on feature-based attention and by comparing our findings with the previous work using stimuli that differed both in terms of spatial and frequency-based characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline M Sheedy
- aTrinity College Institute of Neuroscience bSchool of Engineering cTrinity Centre for Bioengineering dSchool of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland eDepartment of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience in Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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43
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Parkinson AL, Behroozmand R, Ibrahim N, Korzyukov O, Larson CR, Robin DA. Effective connectivity associated with auditory error detection in musicians with absolute pitch. Front Neurosci 2014; 8:46. [PMID: 24634644 PMCID: PMC3942878 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2013] [Accepted: 02/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
It is advantageous to study a wide range of vocal abilities in order to fully understand how vocal control measures vary across the full spectrum. Individuals with absolute pitch (AP) are able to assign a verbal label to musical notes and have enhanced abilities in pitch identification without reliance on an external referent. In this study we used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to model effective connectivity of ERP responses to pitch perturbation in voice auditory feedback in musicians with relative pitch (RP), AP, and non-musician controls. We identified a network compromising left and right hemisphere superior temporal gyrus (STG), primary motor cortex (M1), and premotor cortex (PM). We specified nine models and compared two main factors examining various combinations of STG involvement in feedback pitch error detection/correction process. Our results suggest that modulation of left to right STG connections are important in the identification of self-voice error and sensory motor integration in AP musicians. We also identify reduced connectivity of left hemisphere PM to STG connections in AP and RP groups during the error detection and corrections process relative to non-musicians. We suggest that this suppression may allow for enhanced connectivity relating to pitch identification in the right hemisphere in those with more precise pitch matching abilities. Musicians with enhanced pitch identification abilities likely have an improved auditory error detection and correction system involving connectivity of STG regions. Our findings here also suggest that individuals with AP are more adept at using feedback related to pitch from the right hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy L Parkinson
- Research Imaging Institute, Department of Neurology, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Roozbeh Behroozmand
- Human Brain Research Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Nadine Ibrahim
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Oleg Korzyukov
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Charles R Larson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Donald A Robin
- Research Imaging Institute, Department of Neurology, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio San Antonio, TX, USA
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44
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Ziv N, Radin S. Absolute and relative pitch: Global versus local processing of chords. Adv Cogn Psychol 2014; 10:15-25. [PMID: 24855499 PMCID: PMC3996714 DOI: 10.2478/v10053-008-0152-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2013] [Accepted: 10/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to identify or produce notes without any reference note. An ongoing debate exists regarding the benefits or disadvantages of AP in processing music. One of the main issues in this context is whether the categorical perception of pitch in AP possessors may interfere in processing tasks requiring relative pitch (RP). Previous studies, focusing mainly on melodic and interval perception, have obtained inconsistent results. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of AP and RP separately, using isolated chords. Seventy-three musicians were categorized into four groups of high and low AP and RP, and were tested on two tasks: identifying chord types (Task 1), and identifying a single note within a chord (Task 2). A main effect of RP on Task 1 and an interaction between AP and RP in reaction times were found. On Task 2 main effects of AP and RP, and an interaction were found, with highest performance in participants with both high AP and RP. Results suggest that AP and RP should be regarded as two different abilities, and that AP may slow down reaction times for tasks requiring global processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi Ziv
- Department of Psychology, College of Management Academic Studies,
Israel
| | - Shulamit Radin
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College,
Israel
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45
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Dohn A, Garza-Villarreal EA, Chakravarty MM, Hansen M, Lerch JP, Vuust P. Gray- and White-Matter Anatomy of Absolute Pitch Possessors. Cereb Cortex 2013; 25:1379-88. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
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46
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Elmer S, Sollberger S, Meyer M, Jäncke L. An Empirical Reevaluation of Absolute Pitch: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Measurements. J Cogn Neurosci 2013; 25:1736-53. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Here, we reevaluated the “two-component” model of absolute pitch (AP) by combining behavioral and electrophysiological measurements. This specific model postulates that AP is driven by a perceptual encoding ability (i.e., pitch memory) plus an associative memory component (i.e., pitch labeling). To test these predictions, during EEG measurements AP and non-AP (NAP) musicians were passively exposed to piano tones (first component of the model) and additionally instructed to judge whether combinations of tones and labels were conceptually associated or not (second component of the model). Auditory-evoked N1/P2 potentials did not reveal differences between the two groups, thus indicating that AP is not necessarily driven by a differential pitch encoding ability at the processing level of the auditory cortex. Otherwise, AP musicians performed the conceptual association task with an order of magnitude better accuracy and shorter RTs than NAP musicians did, this result clearly pointing to distinctive conceptual associations in AP possessors. Most notably, this behavioral superiority was reflected by an increased N400 effect and accompanied by a subsequent late positive component, the latter not being distinguishable in NAP musicians.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Martin Meyer
- 1University of Zurich
- 2Center for Integrative Human Physiology, Zurich, Switzerland
- 3International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lutz Jäncke
- 1University of Zurich
- 2Center for Integrative Human Physiology, Zurich, Switzerland
- 3International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center, Zurich, Switzerland
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47
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Chobert J, Besson M. Musical expertise and second language learning. Brain Sci 2013; 3:923-40. [PMID: 24961431 PMCID: PMC4061852 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci3020923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2013] [Revised: 05/23/2013] [Accepted: 05/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that musical expertise influences brain organization and brain functions. Moreover, results at the behavioral and neurophysiological levels reveal that musical expertise positively influences several aspects of speech processing, from auditory perception to speech production. In this review, we focus on the main results of the literature that led to the idea that musical expertise may benefit second language acquisition. We discuss several interpretations that may account for the influence of musical expertise on speech processing in native and foreign languages, and we propose new directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Chobert
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS-Aix-Marseille Université, 3 place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France.
| | - Mireille Besson
- Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, CNRS-Aix-Marseille Université, 3 place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille Cedex 3, France.
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48
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Scott SK, McGettigan C. The neural processing of masked speech. Hear Res 2013; 303:58-66. [PMID: 23685149 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2013] [Revised: 04/29/2013] [Accepted: 05/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Spoken language is rarely heard in silence, and a great deal of interest in psychoacoustics has focused on the ways that the perception of speech is affected by properties of masking noise. In this review we first briefly outline the neuroanatomy of speech perception. We then summarise the neurobiological aspects of the perception of masked speech, and investigate this as a function of masker type, masker level and task. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Annual Reviews 2013".
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie K Scott
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK.
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49
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Albouy P, Mattout J, Bouet R, Maby E, Sanchez G, Aguera PE, Daligault S, Delpuech C, Bertrand O, Caclin A, Tillmann B. Impaired pitch perception and memory in congenital amusia: the deficit starts in the auditory cortex. Brain 2013; 136:1639-61. [DOI: 10.1093/brain/awt082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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50
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Mottron L, Bouvet L, Bonnel A, Samson F, Burack JA, Dawson M, Heaton P. Veridical mapping in the development of exceptional autistic abilities. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2013; 37:209-28. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2012] [Revised: 11/22/2012] [Accepted: 11/23/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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