RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neural Correlates of Music Listening and Recall in the Human Brain
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 1468-18
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1468-18.2019
A1 Yue Ding
A1 Yang Zhang
A1 Wenjing Zhou
A1 Zhipei Ling
A1 Juan Huang
A1 Bo Hong
A1 Xiaoqin Wang
YR 2019
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2019/09/09/JNEUROSCI.1468-18.2019.abstract
AB Previous neuroimaging studies have identified various brain regions that are activated by music listening or recall. However, little is known about how these brain regions represent the time course and temporal features of music during listening and recall. Here we analyzed neural activity in different brain regions associated with music listening and recall using electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings obtained from ten epilepsy patients of both genders implanted with subdural electrodes. ECoG signals were recorded while subjects were listening to familiar instrumental music or recalling the same music pieces by imagery. During the onset phase (0-500ms), music listening initiated cortical activity in high-gamma band in the temporal lobe and supramarginal gyrus, followed by the precentral gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, during music recall the high-gamma band activity first appeared in the inferior frontal gyrus and precentral gyrus, and then spread to the temporal lobe, showing a reversed temporal sequential order. During the sustained phase (after 500ms), delta band and high-gamma band responses in the supramarginal gyrus, temporal and frontal lobes dynamically tracked the intensity envelope of the music during listening or recall with distinct temporal delays. During music listening, the neural tracking by the frontal lobe lagged behind that of the temporal lobe, whereas during music recall, the neural tracking by the frontal lobe preceded that of the temporal lobe. These findings demonstrate bottom-up and top-down processes in the cerebral cortex during music listening and recall and provide important insights into music processing by the human brain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTUnderstanding how the brain analyzes, stores and retrieves music remains one of the most challenging problems in neuroscience. By analyzing direct neural recordings obtained from the human brain, we observed dispersed and overlapping brain regions associated with music listening and recall. Music listening initiated cortical activity in high-gamma band starting from the temporal lobe and ending at the inferior frontal gyrus. A reversed temporal flow was observed in high-gamma response during music recall. Neural responses of frontal and temporal lobes dynamically tracked the intensity envelope of music that was presented or imagined during listening or recall. These findings demonstrate bottom-up and top-down processes in the cerebral cortex during music listening and recall.