Neural encoding of abstract rules in the audition of newborn infants has been recently demonstrated in several studies using event-related potentials (ERPs). In the present study the neural encoding of Western music chords was investigated in newborn infants. Using ERPs, we examined whether the categorizations of major vs. minor and consonance vs. dissonance are present at the level of the change-related mismatch response (MMR). Using an oddball paradigm, root minor, dissonant and inverted major chords were presented in a context of consonant root major chords. The chords were transposed to several different frequency levels, so that the deviant chords did not include a physically deviant frequency that could result in an MMR without categorization. The results show that the newborn infants were sensitive to both dissonant and minor chords but not to inverted major chords in the context of consonant root major chords. While the dissonant chords elicited a large positive MMR, the minor chords elicited a negative MMR. This indicates that the two categories were processed differently. The results suggest newborn infants are sensitive to Western music categorizations, which is consistent with the authors' previous studies in adults and school-aged children.

Music practice since childhood affects the development of hearing skills. An important classification in Western music is the chords' major-minor dichotomy. Its preattentive auditory discrimination was studied here using a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm in 13-year-olds with active hobbies, music-related (music group) or other (control group). In a context of root major chords, root minor chords and inverted major chords were presented infrequently. The interval structure of inverted majors differs more from root majors than the interval structure of root minors. However, the identity of the chords is the same in inverted and root majors (major), but different in root minors. The deviant chords introduced no new frequencies to the paradigm. Hence, an MMN caused by physical deviance was prevented. An MMN was elicited by the minor chords but not by the inverted majors. The MMN amplitude in the music group was larger than in the control group. Thus, the conceptual discrimination skills are present already in the preattentive processing level of the auditory cortex, and musical training can advance these skills.

Objective: Developmental dyslexia is usually associated with deficient neural speech-sound processing. Identifying early signs of dyslexia among the at-risk population is paramount to develop interventions that can be applied before school age. Potential early markers of dyslexia may be detected by assessing neural speech processing deficiencies with the mismatch response (MMR). Methods: As the first step of a large-scale longitudinal study, we recorded MMRs to a pseudoword and its variants (changes in vowel duration, sound frequency of syllables, and vowel identity) with electroencephalography (EEG) from 88 newborns either at high familial risk, i.e., with a moderately to severely dyslexic parent, or at no risk, i.e., no dyslexia in close relatives. Results: Abnormal neural discrimination of all speech-sound variants was found in high-risk infants: their MMRs were absent or diminished, had a different morphology and hemispheric lateralization compared to controls. Conclusions: The results suggest an extensive pattern of atypical neural speech-sound discrimination in highrisk newborns. Significance: This weak neural basis for speech discrimination may contribute to impaired language development, potentially leading to future reading problems.

The present study addressed the effects of musicianship on neural and behavioral discrimination of Western music chords. In abstract oddball paradigms, minor chords and inverted major chords were presented in the context of major chords to musician and non-musician participants in a passive listening task (with EEG recordings) and in an active discrimination task. Both sinusoidal sounds and harmonically rich piano sounds were used. Musicians outperformed non-musicians in the discrimination task. Change-related mismatch negativity (MMN) was evoked to minor and inverted major chords in musicians only, and N1 amplitude was larger in musicians than non-musicians. While MMN was absent in non-musicians, both groups showed decreased N1 in response to minor compared to major chords. The results indicate that processing of complex musical stimuli is enhanced in musicians both behaviorally and neurally, but that major-minor chord categorization is present to some extent also in the absence of music training.