Journal alert: New issue of Neuropsychologia

This study sought to determine > specific brain activities that contribute to differentiating two > culture-specific tonal structures. We recorded magnetoencephalogram > (MEG) responses of bimusical Japanese nonmusicians and amateur musicians > as they monitored unfamiliar Western melodies and unfamiliar, but > traditional, Japanese melodies, both of which contained tonal deviants > (out-of-key tones). Previous studies with Western monomusicals have > shown that tonal deviants elicit an early right anterior negativity > (mERAN) originating in the inferior frontal cortex. In the present > study, tonal deviants in both Western and Japanese melodies elicited > mERANs with characteristics fitted by dipoles around the inferior > frontal gyrus in the right hemisphere and the premotor cortex in the > left hemisphere. Comparisons of the nature of mERAN activity to Western > and Japanese melodies showed differences in the dipoles' locations but > not in their peak latency or dipole strength. These results suggest that > the differentiation between a tonal structure of one culture and that of > another culture correlates with localization differences in brain > subregions around the inferior frontal cortex and the premotor cortex. > (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. > > ======================================================================== > > > *Pages: 3228-3239 (Article) > *View Full Record: http:/...
Source: Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests (aka IQ's Corner) - Category: Neurologists Source Type: blogs