Early cortical processing of pitch height and the role of adaptation and musicality

Pitch is an important perceptual feature; however, it is poorly understood how its cortical correlates are shaped by absolute vs relative fundamental frequency (f₀), and by neural adaptation. In this study, we assessed transient and sustained auditory evoked fields (AEFs) at the onset, progression, and offset of short pitch height sequences, taking into account the listener's musicality. We show that neuromagnetic activity reflects absolute f₀ at pitch onset and offset, and relative f₀ at transitions within pitch sequences; further, sequences with fixed f₀ lead to larger response suppression than sequences with variable f₀ contour, and to enhanced offset activity. Musical listeners exhibit stronger f₀-related AEFs and larger differences between their responses to fixed vs variable sequences, both within sequences and at pitch offset. The results resemble prominent psychoacoustic phenomena in the perception of pitch contours; moreover, they suggest a strong influence of adaptive mechanisms on cortical pitch processing which, in turn, might be modulated by a listener's musical expertise.