QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, January 14, 2009, 29(2):454-459; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4503-08.2009

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Loui, P. Articles by Knight, R. T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Loui, P. Articles by Knight, R. T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Brief Communications
A Generalized Mechanism for Perception of Pitch Patterns

Psyche Loui,^1,5 Elaine H. Wu,² David L. Wessel,^1,3 and Robert T. Knight^1,4

Departments of ¹Psychology, ²Cognitive Science, and ³Music, and ⁴Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, and ⁵Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Correspondence should be addressed to Psyche Loui, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Palmer 127, Boston, MA 02215. Email: ploui{at}bidmc.harvard.edu

Surviving in a complex and changeable environment relies on the ability to extract probable recurring patterns. Here we report a neurophysiological mechanism for rapid probabilistic learning of a new system of music. Participants listened to different combinations of tones from a previously unheard system of pitches based on the Bohlen-Pierce scale, with chord progressions that form 3:1 ratios in frequency, notably different from 2:1 frequency ratios in existing musical systems. Event-related brain potentials elicited by improbable sounds in the new music system showed emergence over a 1 h period of physiological signatures known to index sound expectation in standard Western music. These indices of expectation learning were eliminated when sound patterns were played equiprobably, and covaried with individual behavioral differences in learning. These results demonstrate that humans use a generalized probability-based perceptual learning mechanism to process novel sound patterns in music.

Key words: probability learning; music; auditory perception; pattern processing; event-related potentials; mismatch negativity (MMN); acoustics

---

Received Sept. 19, 2008; revised Oct. 31, 2008; accepted Dec. 3, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Psyche Loui, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Palmer 127, Boston, MA 02215. Email: ploui{at}bidmc.harvard.edu

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help