Neural Correlates of Processing Syntax in Music and ... - PubMan

Music Perception 21
2001a). Janata and Grafton (2003) run a meta-analysis on brain imaging studies on
sequence learning and time-interval production in order to disentangle the influence of
temporal (e.g., rhythmical complexity) and ordinal complexity (e.g., complexity of
finger movements). They found anterior cingulate, insula, and precuneus influenced by
ordinal complexity (with rather less temporal complexity) while the intraparietal sulcus
was merely responsive to temporal complexity. When both temporal and ordinal complexity
was increased, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus are
most sensitive.
In subsequent stages, structural reanalysis and repair may be necessary. Electro-
physiologically, these processes may be reflected in the ERPs as positive potentials that
are maximal around 600–900 ms. Besson and Faïta (1995) found a larger LPC (late
positive component) in response to different violations of expectancies (an incongruous
note that was either diatonic, non-diatonic, or a change in rhythm). Moreover, they
found that both, the tonal structure and the familiarity with the musical pieces, may
modulate the amplitude and the latency of the LPC. A comparable ERP component was
found by Patel et al. (1998).
Both, meaning and emotion are assumed to interact with processes of structure build-
ing (indicated by the thick lines in the model of Koelsch & Siebel, 2005). The emergence
of meaning, based on the processing of musical structure, requires integration of
expected and unexpected events into a larger, meaningful musical context (Koelsch,
2005; Koelsch et al., 2004).
Experiencing music is intimately related to its emotional appeal (Juslin & Sloboda,
2001). For example, adult members of a culture mostly agree on the emotional characterization
of a musical piece and tend to select the same adjectives to describe it
(Hevner, 1936). The outcome of syntactic processing may be important for processing
meaning and emotion in music: Mechanisms for representing music are multidimensional
and hierarchical. Music is, thus, characterized by points of greater or lesser
prominence or distance from one another. The emotion induced by music is strongly
affected by the modulation of tension and resolution within a piece. It appears to be a
function of cognitive representations of tonality (Krumhansl, 1990; Lerdahl, 2001; L. B.
Meyer, 1956; Narmour, 1990). Expression in music is one means to make these structural
features more prominent thus heightening the emotional response. Studies investigating
the brain correlates of emotion elicited by music (Blood & Zatorre, 2001; Blood,
Zatorre, Bermudez, & Evans, 1999; Menon & Levitin, 2005) found activity in some
brain regions in the orbitofrontal cortex, regarded as interface between cognition and