Transcript Psychology of Music Learning

Psychology of Music Learning
Miksza
Music and Brain Research
…from Peretz & Zatorre (2005)
Perception and Recognition
• Pitch relations
– Evidence from brain impairment suggests pitch
and time perception are separate neural
subsystems but imaging results are less
conclusive
– Right auditory cortex – analyzing pitch information
– Both hemispheres are important for contour and
interval perception
– ERP and fMRI research shows evidence of a
neural system of tonal perception (scales) –
usually in the form of recognition of deviations
– Deviations from harmonic expectancies are also
evident in ERP studies
Perception and Recognition
• Time relations
– Neuropsychological evidence suggest that rhythm
and beat perception are tied to different
processing components – rather than being
hierarchical in nature
– Studies of beat tapping in various hands or by
individuals with brain impairments cited
• Some with lesions can discriminate rhythmic patterns but
not metric grouping
– Evidence for importance of basal ganglia and
cerebellum in timed motor-tasks
Memory
• Memory important since music unfolds
over time
• Melodic recognition can be hampered in
a variety of ways given brain injury
• Auditory cortex is active during imagery
or mental rehearsal
Emotion
• Emotional response may be tied to a
relatively distinct neural network
• Brain impaired individuals may be able
to recognize emotional import in music
even if not the music itself
• Cerebral blood flow patterns can be
linked to ‘musical chills’ experiences
Performance
• Singing
– Neural disassociation between speech and
singing is possible
• Aphasia does not imply amusia and vice versa
– Loss of melody has been tied to right-hemisphere
lesions
– Loss of rhythm has been tied to left hemisphere
regions
• Sight-reading
– Can lose language reading and retain musical and
vice versa
Training
• Unique opportunity to study brain plasticity
– Experience shapes cortical networks
• Motor cortex is enhanced structurally and functionally
in musicians
• Cortical representation of left-hand for string players
larger than non-musicians, no difference in right hand
• Musicians exhibit greater responses to piano tones
than non-musicians
• AP may rely on an innate neural substrate
– AP listeners show less ERP
• Mental practice may lead to similar although lesspronounced effects as physical practice in cortical
excitement
Music Specificity
• Network of regions in both right and left
hemispheres
• Right-side asymmetry for pitch-based
processing
• Time-relations are somewhat more bilateral
• Most evidence points to distinct neural
processing patterns for musical events