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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Mapping the After-effects of Theta Burst Stimulation on the Human Auditory Cortex with Functional Imaging
Published on: September 12, 2012
Spatiotemporal whole-brain activity and functional connectivity of melodies recognition
Leonardo Bonetti1,2,3, Elvira Brattico1,4, Francesco Carlomagno1
1Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, 8000 Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.
Abstract:
Music is a non-verbal human language, built on logical, hierarchical structures, that offers excellent opportunities to explore how the brain processes complex spatiotemporal auditory sequences. Using the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography, we investigated the unfolding brain dynamics of 70 participants during the recognition of previously memorized musical sequences compared to novel sequences matched in terms of entropy and information content. Measures of both whole-brain activity and functional connectivity revealed a widespread brain network underlying the recognition of the memorized auditory sequences, which comprised primary auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus, insula, frontal operculum, cingulate gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hippocampus. Furthermore, while the auditory cortex responded mainly to the first tones of the sequences, the activity of higher-order brain areas such as the cingulate gyrus, frontal operculum, hippocampus, and orbitofrontal cortex largely increased over time during the recognition of the memorized versus novel musical sequences. In conclusion, using a wide range of analytical techniques spanning from decoding to functional connectivity and building on previous works, our study provided new insights into the spatiotemporal whole-brain mechanisms for conscious recognition of auditory sequences.
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