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Music matters: Preattentive musicality of the human brain
Author(s) -
Koelsch Stefan,
Schroger Erich,
Gunter Thomas C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/1469-8986.3910038
Subject(s) - psychology , event related potential , negativity effect , musical , musicality , mismatch negativity , active listening , cognitive psychology , stimulus (psychology) , violin , electroencephalography , communication , neuroscience , acoustics , art , physics , visual arts
During listening to a musical piece, unexpected harmonies may evoke brain responses that are reflected electrically as an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) and a late frontal negativity (N5). In the present study we demonstrate that these components of the event‐related potential can be evoked preattentively, that is, even when a musical stimulus is ignored. Both ERAN and N5 differed in amplitude as a function of music‐theoretical principles. Participants had no special musical expertise; results thus provide evidence for an automatic processing of musical information in “nonmusicians.”