Dissonant endings of chord progressions elicit a larger ERAN than ambiguous endings in musicians. (12th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pagès‐Portabella, Carlota; Toro, Juan M.
• Is Part Of: Psychophysiology. Volume 57:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2019-09-12
• Subjects: dissonance -- ERAN -- ERPs -- harmonic expectations -- musical training; Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13476
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0048-5772

Abstract

Abstract: In major‐minor tonal music, the hierarchical relationships and patterns of tension/release are essential for its composition and experience. For most listeners, tension leads to an expectation of resolution. Thus, when musical expectations are broken, they are usually perceived as erroneous and elicit specific neural responses such as the early right anterior negativity (ERAN). In the present study, we explored if different degrees of musical violations are processed differently after long‐term musical training in comparison to day‐to‐day exposure. We registered the ERPs elicited by listening to unexpected chords in both musicians and nonmusicians. More specifically, we compared the responses of strong violations by unexpected dissonant endings and mild violations by unexpected but consonant endings (Neapolitan chords). Our results show that, irrespective of training, irregular endings elicited the ERAN. However, the ERAN for dissonant endings was larger in musicians than in nonmusicians. More importantly, we observed a modulation of the neural responses by the degree of violation only in musicians. In this group, the amplitude of the ERAN was larger for strong than for mild violations. These results suggest an early sensitivity of musicians to dissonance, which is processed as less expected than tonal irregularities. We also found that irregular endings elicited a P3 only in musicians. Our study suggests that, even though violations of harmonic expectancies are detected by all listeners, musical training modulates how different violations of the musical context are processed. Abstract : Expectations of musical resolution can be broken in many ways. Here, we explore the neural responses to different degrees of violation after musical training in comparison to day‐to‐day exposure. Our study shows that unexpected endings elicit the early right anterior negativity (ERAN), independently of musical training. However, only in musicians, the strong violations by dissonant endings elicit a larger ERAN than mild violations by unexpected consonant endings. This suggests an enhanced auditory ability in musicians linked to their early sensitivity to dissonance. Our results show that, although irregularities are detected by all listeners, musical training modulates how different violations are processed.