Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception
METADATA ONLY
Loading...
Author / Producer
Date
2019-10-15
Publication Type
Journal Article, Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
no
Citations
Altmetric
METADATA ONLY
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Pitch is a fundamental attribute of sounds and yet is not perceived equally by all humans. Absolute pitch (AP) musicians perceive, recognize, and name pitches in absolute terms, whereas relative pitch (RP) musicians, representing the large majority of musicians, perceive pitches in relation to other pitches. In this study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural representations underlying tone listening and tone labeling in a large sample of musicians (n = 105). Participants performed a pitch processing task with a listening and a labeling condition during EEG acquisition. Using a brain-decoding framework, we tested a prediction derived from both theoretical and empirical accounts of AP, namely that the representational similarity of listening and labeling is higher in AP musicians than in RP musicians. Consistent with the prediction, time-resolved single-trial EEG decoding revealed a higher representational similarity in AP musicians during late stages of pitch perception. Time-frequency-resolved EEG decoding further showed that the higher representational similarity was present in oscillations in the theta and beta frequency bands. Supplemental univariate analyses were less sensitive in detecting subtle group differences in the frequency domain. Taken together, the results suggest differences between AP and RP musicians in late pitch processing stages associated with cognition, rather than in early processing stages associated with perception.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
200
Pages / Article No.
132 - 141
Publisher
Elsevier
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Auditory perception; Multivariate pattern analysis; Representational similarity analysis; Decoding; EEG
Organisational unit
09800 - Cross, Emily S. / Cross, Emily S.