paper is a study of subjective appraisal of music (no. 44). One paper is a study of musical syntax
processing (no. 72). The lack of information about sound sources raises the question of the validity
of the studies. In particular, the nature of the sound source is likely to influence studies of memory
and subjective appraisal.
Sinus tones
One MEG study demonstrates different responses to sinus tones and acoustic instrumental tones
(no. 18), and one EEG study demonstrates different responses to sinus tones and synthesized pia-
no and violin tones (no. 16). The findings of these studies question the validity of the seven studies
based exclusively on sinus tones (no. 4, 8, 15, 22, 28, 64, 74).
Real music
17 papers report the application of recordings of real music. However, none of these are brain imag-
ing studies. In 14 papers, the music is not specified. The music is specified in three papers; Wong et
al. (no. 19), a study of auditory brainstem responses (ABR), Bigand et al. (no. 33), a study of famil-
iarity judgments, Grewe et al (no. 51), a study of chills, skin conductance response (SCR), and heart
rate (HR).
Cultural references
Appendix 3.07 reports a survey of Cultural references NM III.
Western major-minor tonality
Out of 79 papers, 40 refer to Western major-minor tonal music, primarily classical. 27 papers are cul-
turally neutral.
Popular music
Ten papers include popular music in their studies, but do not specify the pieces. Honing et al. (no. 9)
investigate mismatch negativity (MMN) responses to a rhythmic rock pattern. Sevdalis & Keller (no.
73) investigate self-recognition in dance movements to drum and bass, folk and jazz music.
Brattico & Jacobsen (no. 44) provide a comprehensive review of subjective appraisal of music,
including pop and rock music. They state that ”pop and rock music (...) contain elaborated accompa-
niment and timbre solutions aiming at engaging listeners’ attention and inducing emotions” (NM III, p.
312). However, they do not present a study of pop or rock music.
Cross-cultural studies
Cross-cultural studies are scarce in NM III. One paper (no. 19) focuses explicitly on cultural differ-
ences, comparing Western, Indian, and bimusical listeners’ judgments of Western classical and Indi-
an classical music.
Two papers investigate tone contours in tonal languages (no. 71, 79). One paper compares
Western and Japanese children’s identification of TV theme songs (no. 78). Except for these four
papers, the bias towards Western major-minor music is significant.
Inclusion of aesthetic, therapeutic and social factors
Therapy and recovery
The overall theme of Disorders and Plasticity in the NM III conference makes room for extensive pre-
sentations of music-supported therapy and rehabilitation techniques (no. 57, 58, 59, 62). Koelsch’s
review of the effects of music therapy (no. 58) provides a substantial introduction to the field.