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Updated: May 8, 2026
11:15
fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Published on: May 23, 2017
Processing of hierarchical syntactic structure in music
Stefan Koelsch1, Martin Rohrmeier, Renzo Torrecuso
1Cluster: Languages of Emotion, Freie Universität, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Summary
Humans can perceive hierarchical structures in music, similar to language. Brain responses show that cognitive processes handle long-distance dependencies in music, revealing a shared mechanism for syntactic processing across domains.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Music Cognition
- Computational Linguistics
Background:
- Hierarchical structures with nested nonlocal dependencies are fundamental to human language.
- Previous research questioned the perception of such structures in music.
- Tonal music theoretically exhibits hierarchical organization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the perception of nonlocal dependencies in music.
- To determine if the human brain processes hierarchical structures in music.
- To explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying music perception.
Main Methods:
- Presented participants with chorales by J. S. Bach and modified versions.
- Manipulated the regularity of hierarchical structures while maintaining local structure.
- Recorded and analyzed brain electric responses (EEG) in musicians and nonmusicians.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in brain electric responses were observed between regular and irregular hierarchical structures.
- Both musicians and nonmusicians demonstrated sensitivity to hierarchical irregularities.
- This suggests the engagement of cognitive processes for long-distance dependencies in music.
Conclusions:
- The human brain processes hierarchical structures with nested nonlocal dependencies in music.
- A fundamental brain mechanism for syntactic processing is active during music perception.
- Hierarchical structure processing is a multidomain cognitive capacity, not limited to language.
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