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^
- 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