Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 20, 2025

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Published on: May 23, 2017
Evoked responses to note onsets and phrase boundaries in Mozart's K448
Yijing Feng1, Robert J Quon2,3, Barbara C Jobst2,3
1Department of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
Abstract:
Understanding the neural correlates of perception of hierarchical structure in music presents a direct window into auditory organization. To examine the hypothesis that high-level and low-level structures-i.e. phrases and notes-elicit different neural responses, we collected intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) data from eight subjects during exposure to Mozart's K448 and directly compared Event-related potentials (ERPs) due to note onsets and those elicited by phrase boundaries. Cluster-level permutation tests revealed that note-onset-related ERPs and phrase-boundary-related ERPs were significantly different at [Formula: see text], 200, and 450 ms relative to note onset and phrase markers. We also observed increased activity in frontal brain regions when processing phrase boundaries. We relate these observations to (1) a process which syntactically binds notes together hierarchically to form larger phrases; (2) positive emotions induced by successful prediction of forthcoming phrase boundaries and violations of melodic expectations at phrase boundaries.
Related Concept Videos
Auditory Perception
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by...
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
Sound Waves: Resonance
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov observed that dogs...

