A reevaluation of the electrophysiological correlates of absolute pitch and relative pitch: No evidence for an absolute pitch-specific negativity

Leipold, Simon; Oderbolz, Chantal; Greber, Marielle; Jäncke, Lutz

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.12.016

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…In this context, it is important to note that our results should not be regarded as evidence that there are no brain differences between AP and RP musicians. Task-based studies designed to investigate the tone labeling ability of AP musicians in action have shown considerable promise for uncovering the neural peculiarities of the phenomenon (Greber et al, 2018; Leipold et al, 2019b, 2019c; McKetton et al, 2019; Schulze et al, 2013; Wengenroth et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical expertise shapes functional and structural brain networks independent of absolute pitch ability

Leipold

Klein

Jäncke

2020

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Professional musicians are a popular model for investigating experience-dependent plasticity in human large-scale brain networks. A minority of musicians possess absolute pitch, the ability to name a tone without reference. The study of absolute pitch musicians provides insights into how a very specific talent is reflected in brain networks.Previous studies of the effects of musicianship and absolute pitch on large-scale brain networks have yielded highly heterogeneous findings regarding the localization and direction of the effects. This heterogeneity was likely influenced by small samples and vastly different methodological approaches.Here, we conducted a comprehensive multimodal assessment of effects of musicianship and absolute pitch on intrinsic functional and structural connectivity using a variety of commonly employed and state-of-the-art multivariate methods in the largest sample to date (n = 153; 52 absolute pitch musicians, 51 relative pitch musicians, and 50 non-musicians).Our results show robust effects of musicianship in inter- and intrahemispheric connectivity in both structural and functional networks. Crucially, most of the effects were replicable in both musicians with and without absolute pitch when compared to non-musicians. However, we did not find evidence for an effect of absolute pitch on intrinsic functional or structural connectivity in our data: The two musician groups showed strikingly similar networks across all analyses.Our results suggest that long-term musical training is associated with robust changes in large-scale brain networks. The effects of absolute pitch on neural networks might be extremely subtle, requiring very large samples or task-based experiments to be detected.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical expertise shapes functional and structural brain networks independent of absolute pitch ability

Leipold

Klein

Jäncke

2020

Preprint

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“…We analyzed the data of 105 participants, who were recruited in the context of a large project investigating AP (Brauchli et al, 2019;Burkhard et al, 2019;Greber et al, 2018;Leipold et al, 2019a). The EEG data of 104 of these participants was previously analyzed as part of a direct replication study using a different group assignment and methodology (Leipold et al, 2019b). All participants were either professional musicians, music students, or highly trained amateurs, aged between 18 and 44 years.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The neural correlates of AP and RP have been extensively studied using electroencephalography (EEG), yielding various findings regarding the auditory event-related potential (ERP) (Behroozmand et al, 2014;Bischoff Renninger et al, 2003;Burkhard et al, 2019;Crummer et al, 1994;Elmer et al, 2013;Greber et al, 2018;Hantz et al, 1992;Itoh et al, 2005;Klein et al, 1984;Leipold et al, 2019b;Rogenmoser et al, 2015;Tervaniemi et al, 1993;Wayman et al, 1992). All of these studies exclusively applied univariate analysis, which includes a preselection of electrodes and time windows to be analyzed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

et al. 2019

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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.

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“…The neural correlates of AP and RP have been extensively studied using electroencephalography (EEG), yielding 11 various findings regarding the auditory event-related potential (ERP) (Behroozmand et al, 2014;Bischoff 12 Renninger et al, 2003;Burkhard et al, 2019;Crummer et al, 1994;Elmer et al, 2013;Greber et al, 2018;Hantz 13 et al, 1992;Itoh et al, 2005;Klein et al, 1984;Leipold et al, 2019b;Rogenmoser et al, 2015;Tervaniemi et al, 14 1993;Wayman et al, 1992). All of these studies exclusively applied univariate analysis, which includes a 15 preselection of electrodes and time windows to be analyzed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We analyzed the data of 105 participants, who were recruited in the context of a large project investigating AP 61 (Brauchli et al, 2019;Burkhard et al, 2019;Greber et al, 2018;Leipold et al, 2019a). The EEG data of 104 of 62 these participants was previously analyzed as part of a direct replication study using a different group assignment 63 and methodology (Leipold et al, 2019b). All participants were either professional musicians, music students, or 64 highly trained amateurs, aged between 18 and 44 years.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

Leipold

Greber

Sele

et al. 2019

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1Pitch is a fundamental attribute of sounds and yet is not perceived equally by all humans. Absolute pitch (AP) 2 musicians perceive, recognize, and name pitches in absolute terms, whereas relative pitch (RP) musicians, 3representing the large majority of musicians, perceive pitches in relation to other pitches. In this study, we used 4 electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural representations underlying tone listening and tone labeling 5 in a large sample of musicians (n = 105). Participants performed a pitch processing task with a listening and a 6 labeling condition during EEG acquisition. Using a brain-decoding framework, we tested a prediction derived 7 from both theoretical and empirical accounts of AP, namely that the representational similarity of listening and 8 labeling is higher in AP musicians than in RP musicians. Consistent with the prediction, time-resolved single-trial 9 EEG decoding revealed a higher representational similarity in AP musicians during late stages of pitch perception. 10 Time-frequency-resolved EEG decoding further showed that the higher representational similarity was present in 11 oscillations in the theta and beta frequency bands. Supplemental univariate analyses were less sensitive in detecting 12 subtle group differences in the frequency domain. Taken together, the results suggest differences between AP and 13 RP musicians in late pitch processing stages associated with cognition, rather than in early processing stages 14 associated with perception. 15 Keywords 16 auditory perception, multivariate pattern analysis, representational similarity analysis, decoding, EEG 17

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A reevaluation of the electrophysiological correlates of absolute pitch and relative pitch: No evidence for an absolute pitch-specific negativity

Cited by 14 publications

References 64 publications

Musical expertise shapes functional and structural brain networks independent of absolute pitch ability

Musical expertise shapes functional and structural brain networks independent of absolute pitch ability

Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

Neural patterns reveal single-trial information on absolute pitch and relative pitch perception

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