The relative pitch of harmonic complex sounds, such as instrumental sounds, may be perceived by decoding either the fundamental pitch (f0) or the spectral pitch (fSP) of the stimuli. We classified a large cohort of 420 subjects including symphony orchestra musicians to be either f0 or fSP listeners, depending on the dominant perceptual mode. In a subgroup of 87 subjects, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and magnetoencephalography studies demonstrated a strong neural basis for both types of pitch perception irrespective of musical aptitude. Compared with f0 listeners, fSP listeners possessed a pronounced rightward, rather than leftward, asymmetry of gray matter volume and P50m activity within the pitch-sensitive lateral Heschl's gyrus. Our data link relative hemispheric lateralization with perceptual stimulus properties, whereas the absolute size of the Heschl's gyrus depends on musical aptitude.

The present study employs a new framework to categorise the heterogeneous findings on the relationship between impaired reward processing and negative and affective symptoms of schizophrenia. Based on previous behavioural and neuroimaging studies we postulate that "wanting" (i.e. anticipation) of a reward is specifically related to apathy, whereas "liking" (i.e. hedonic impact) is related to anhedonia and depression-symptoms commonly observed in schizophrenia. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs and fifteen healthy controls performed a probabilistic monetary incentive delay task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. At the group level we found no significant differences between patients and controls in neural activation during anticipation or receipt of a reward. However, in patients with schizophrenia specific relationships between ventral-striatal activation and symptoms were observed. Ventral-striatal activation during reward anticipation was negatively correlated with apathy, while activation during receipt of reward was negatively correlated with severity of depressive symptoms. These results suggest that the link between negative symptoms and reward anticipation might specifically relate to apathy, i.e. a lack of motivation and drive. Impaired hedonic reward processing might contribute to the development of depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, but it is not directly associated with self-rated anhedonia. These results indicate the necessity of more specifically differentiating negative and affective symptoms in schizophrenia in order to understand the role of the reward system in their pathogenesis.

Impaired behavioral response shifting in anorexia nervosa seems to be associated with hypoactivation in the ventral anterior cingulate-striato-thalamic loop that is involved in motivation-related behavior. In contrast, anorexia nervosa patients showed predominant activation of frontoparietal networks that is indicative of effortful and supervisory cognitive control during task performance.

Absolute pitch (AP) perception is the auditory ability to effortlessly recognize the pitch of any given tone without external reference. To study the neural substrates of this rare phenomenon, we developed a novel behavioral test, which excludes memory-based interval recognition and permits quantification of AP proficiency independently of relative pitch cues. AP- and non-AP-possessing musicians were studied with morphological and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography. Gray matter volume of the right Heschl's gyrus (HG) was highly correlated with AP proficiency. Right-hemispheric auditory evoked fields were increased in the AP group. fMRI revealed an AP-dependent network of right planum temporale, secondary somatosensory, and premotor cortices, as well as left-hemispheric "Broca's" area. We propose the right HG as an anatomical marker of AP and suggest that a right-hemispheric network mediates AP "perception," whereas pitch "labeling" takes place in the left hemisphere.