Music Listening, Music Therapy, Phenomenology and Neuroscience

Appendix 3.01 Survey of The Neurosciences and Music I

• Conference 2002

Part II: Brain Sciences versus Music

Title, Category

Aim

Mus. Material, Cultural Ref.

Technology

& Procedure

Main focus of interest

Conclusion

*30. Jones, E.G. (218

-233)

Parallel pathways in monkey auditory system

Cat. 1: Pitch

Cat

. 6: Animal sounds
Well

-documented and

ground

-breaking study by

E.G. Jone

s^

31. Bentivoglio (234-243)
    Legac

y of the brains of

musicians

Cat

. 8: Musicians
32. Kuck et al. (244

-253)

Brain processing of meter and rhythm

Cat

. 4: Meter, Rhythm

To delineate

two parallel

pathways ascending through the brain stem to the medial geniculate complex of the th

alamus

and projecting to two different areas of the auditory cortex

Overview of the history of debates on correlation of musical skills and neurological functions

To determine cortical structures involved in ”global” meter and ”local” rhythm processing

Single pure tones versus recordings of monkey communication calls

(”coo sounds”)

CR: Monkey communication

None CR:

---

Pairs of monophonic sequences, MIDI piano sounds played at the pitch of b flat

CR: Neutral

Anatomical

studies of the

neural pathways, and imaging studies of auditory processing in monkey cerebral cortex by means of PET

Review

s of ”Phrenology” and

other attempts at brain research. Case stories of composers’ diseases

18 experienced musicians.

32-

channel DC (Direct

Current) EEG, recording slow brain potentials. Same / different task

Two different areas of the auditory cortex

,

a tonotopically organized core area responding to pitch, and a belt area responding to more biologically significa

nt

sounds

Synthetic historical account of the debates on musical skills and neural functions Localization of cortical activation for ”meter” and ”rhythm” test conditions

.

Testing

Lerdahl and

Jackendoff

hypothesis:

Rhythm processing in left, meter in right hemisphere

Studies of the auditory cortical areas on the basis of best frequency analysis and tonotopic organization may have reached a point of limited usefulness.

(p. 231)

Challenge: Examination of brain regions from the perspective

of sounds that

are of greater biological relevance, including music

Regions of the brain con

• 
  

cerned with biologically significant auditory com

• 
  

munication which is more complex than mere pitch discrimination are relevant for perception of music in humans

.

Warning against a too precise ”localizationalist” approach in contemporary neuroscience

For both: Predominant right prefrontal activation.

For rhythm: more centro

• 
  

parietal activation.

No support for Lerdahl and Jackendoff

hypothesis