Absolute Pitch: Evidence for Early Cognitive Facilitation during Passive Listening as Revealed by Reduced P3a Amplitudes

Abstract

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to identify or produce different pitches without using reference tones. At least two sequential processing stages are assumed to contribute to this phenomenon. The first recruits a pitch memory mechanism at an early stage of auditory processing, whereas the second is driven more by a later cognitive mechanism (pitch labeling). Several investigations have used active tasks, but it is unclear how these two mechanisms contribute to AP during passive listening. The present work investigated the temporal dynamics of tone processing in AP and non-AP (NAP)participants, using EEG. We applied a passive oddball paradigm with between-and within-tone category manipulations and analyzed the MMN reflecting the early stage of auditory processing and, for the first time, the P3a response reflecting the later cognitive mechanism during the second processing stage. Results did not reveal between-group differences in MMN waveforms. But, the P3a response was specifically associated with AP and sensitive to processing different pitch types. Specifically, AP participants exhibited smaller P3a amplitudes, especially in between-tone category conditions, and P3a responses correlated significantly with the age of commencement of musical training, suggesting an influence of early musical exposure on AP. Our results reinforce the current opinion that the representation of pitches at the processing level of the auditory-related cortex is similar among AP and NAP participants, whereas the later processing stage is critical for AP. Results are interpreted as reflecting cognitive facilitation in AP participants, possibly driven by the availability of multiple codes for tones. Abstract ■ Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to identify or produce different pitches without using reference tones. At least two sequential processing stages are assumed to contribute to this phenomenon. The first recruits a pitch memory mechanism at an early stage of auditory processing, whereas the second is driven by a later cognitive mechanism (pitch labeling). Several investigations have used active tasks, but it is unclear how these two mechanisms contribute to AP during passive listening. The present work investigated the temporal dynamics of tone processing in AP and non-AP (NAP) participants by using EEG. We applied a passive oddball paradigm with between-and withintone category manipulations and analyzed the MMN reflecting the early stage of auditory processing and the P3a response reflecting the later cognitive mechanism during the second processing stage. Results did not reveal between-group differences in MMN waveforms. By contrast, the P3a response was specifically associated with AP and sensitive to the processing of different pitch types. Specifically, AP participants exhibited smaller P3a amplitudes, especially in between-tone category conditions, and P3a responses correlated significantly with the age of commencement of musical training, suggesting an influence of early musical exposure on AP. Our ...

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

“…The early processing of tones encompasses the 402 perceptual analysis of acoustic features of the stimulus (Koelsch and Siebel, 2005); hence, our results suggest that 403 AP and RP musicians do not differ in this initial analysis of the tones. This is in accordance with a number of 404 previous EEG studies not finding differences between AP and RP musicians in early ERPs (Elmer et al, 2013;405 Greber et al, 2018;Pantev et al, 1998;Rogenmoser et al, 2015;Tervaniemi et al, 1993). On the other hand, 406 much evidence points to differences between AP and RP musicians in late ERPs associated with higher-order 407 cognitive functions (Bischoff Renninger et al, 2003;Crummer et al, 1994;Elmer et al, 2013;Hantz et al, 1992;408 Klein et al, 1984;Wayman et al, 1992).…”

“…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.…”

Auditory aversion in absolute pitch possessors

“…In EEG, this interference is reflected by a negative-going deflection around 400 ms after target-onset, which is referred to as the N400 (Kutas and Hillyard 1980;Zhang et al 2010). EEG has an excellent time resolution and has been insightful in capturing the early perceptual and cognitive processes underlying AP (Elmer et al 2013;Rogenmoser et al 2015;Greber et al 2018;Burkhard et al 2019;Leipold, Oderbolz, et al 2019). In the present study, the participants were instructed to judge as quickly and accurately as possible whether pictures (targets) were either pleasant or unpleasant by pressing one of two response buttons.…”

Absolute Pitch Acquisition as Memory System with Its' Musical Executive Function from Cognitive Neuropsychological Perspective

“…Two additional are cognitive and concern memory types -pitch memory as explicit memory and pitch labeling as associative implicit memory with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [28,29,208,322,329] and fiber bundle linking the posterior supra-temporal area [181]. With taking into account that pitch memory is common function [113,168] the most constituted and distinctive cue trait AP concern pitch labeling as the mnemonic association between pitch -tones' frequencies and its' namelabels [82,245]. Here neuronal oscillations with theta frequency range around 4 -7 HZ are: 1.…”