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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Published on: May 23, 2017
Brainstem correlates of behavioral and compositional preferences of musical harmony
Gavin M Bidelman1, Ananthanarayan Krishnan
1Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. gbidelma@purdue.edu
Abstract:
Certain chords are preferred by listeners behaviorally and also occur with higher regularity in musical composition. Event-related potentials index the perceived consonance (i.e., pleasantness) of musical pitch relationships providing a cortical neural correlate for such behavioral preferences. Here, we show correlates of these harmonic preferences exist at subcortical stages of audition. Brainstem frequency-following responses were measured in response to four prototypical musical triads. Pitch salience computed from frequency-following responses correctly predicted the ordering of triadic harmony stipulated by music theory (i.e., major >minor >>diminished >augmented). Moreover, neural response magnitudes showed high correspondence with listeners' perceptual ratings of the same chords. Results suggest that preattentive stages of pitch processing may contribute to perceptual judgments of musical harmony.
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