Effect of musical modelling on late auditory evoked potentials

Late auditory evoked potentials were recorded in four subjects during musical tasks. A PDP 12 computer synchronized stimuli, which were produced by an integrated circuit, and recording with the help of a quartz time basis. The content of each experiment was different modelling of an ambiguous identical acoustic stimulus. In experiment 1, subjects had to model a 6-note melody according to the classic metric foot. In experiment 2, segmentation of an 8-note melody into 5- and 3- versus 3- and 5-tone motifs had to be performed. In experiment 1 an intra-individually reliable, but inter-individually variable neurophysiological correlate was detected during the heavy tone: (1) positivity, (2) negativity, (3) alpha blocking and (4) DC shift. Experiment 2 yielded an intra- and inter-individually reliable positive DC shift of about 4 microV between the two motifs. Myogenic, ocular, dermal, respiratory or electrocardiographic artefacts were excluded in each case. The results indicate that conclusions from evoked potentials to musical perception might be possible and that possible modelling mechanisms with subsequent undesirable influence on recordings have to be considered in any kind of evoked potential experimental design.