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Music is based on various regularities, ranging from the repetition of physical sounds to theoretically organized harmony and counterpoint. How are multidimensional regularities processed when we listen to music? The present study focuses on the redundant signals effect (RSE) as a novel approach to untangling the relationship between these regularities in music. The RSE refers to the occurrence of a shorter reaction time (RT) when two or three signals are presented simultaneously than when only one of these signals is presented, and provides evidence that these signals are processed concurrently. In two experiments, chords that deviated from tonal (harmonic) and acoustic (intensity and timbre) regularities were presented occasionally in the final position of short chord sequences. The participants were asked to detect all deviant chords while withholding their responses to non-deviant chords (i.e., the Go/NoGo task). RSEs were observed in all double- and triple-deviant combinations, reflecting processing of multidimensional regularities. Further analyses suggested evidence of coactivation by separate perceptual modules in the combination of tonal and acoustic deviants, but not in the combination of two acoustic deviants. These results imply that tonal and acoustic regularities are different enough to be processed as two discrete pieces of information. Examining the underlying process of RSE may elucidate the relationship between multidimensional regularity processing in music.

Music is ubiquitous, both in its instrumental and vocal forms. While speech perception at birth has been at the core of an extensive corpus of research, the origins of the ability to discriminate instrumental or vocal melodies is still not well investigated. In previous studies comparing vocal and musical perception, the vocal stimuli were mainly related to speaking, including language, and not to the non-language singing voice. In the present study, to better compare a melodic instrumental line with the voice, we used singing as a comparison stimulus, to reduce the dissimilarities between the two stimuli as much as possible, separating language perception from vocal musical perception. In the present study, 45 newborns were scanned, 10 full-term born infants and 35 preterm infants at term-equivalent age (mean gestational age at test = 40.17 weeks, SD = 0.44) using functional magnetic resonance imaging while listening to five melodies played by a musical instrument (flute) or sung by a female voice. To examine the dynamic task-based effective connectivity, we employed a psychophysiological interaction of co-activation patterns (PPI-CAPs) analysis, using the auditory cortices as seed region, to investigate moment-to-moment changes in task-driven modulation of cortical activity during an fMRI task. Our findings reveal condition-specific, dynamically occurring patterns of co-activation (PPI-CAPs). During the vocal condition, the auditory cortex co-activates with the sensorimotor and salience networks, while during the instrumental condition, it co-activates with the visual cortex and the superior frontal cortex. Our results show that the vocal stimulus elicits sensorimotor aspects of the auditory perception and is processed as a more salient stimulus while the instrumental condition activated higher-order cognitive and visuo-spatial networks. Common neural signatures for both auditory stimuli were found in the precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Finally, this study adds knowledge on the dynamic brain connectivity underlying the newborns capability of early and specialized auditory processing, highlighting the relevance of dynamic approaches to study brain function in newborn populations.

Background: This study investigated how different hearing profiles influenced melodic contour identification (MCI) in a real-world concert setting with a live band including drums, bass, and a lead instrument. We aimed to determine the impact of various auditory assistive technologies on music perception in an ecologically valid environment. Methods: The study involved 43 participants with varying hearing capabilities: normal hearing, bilateral hearing aids, bimodal hearing, single-sided cochlear implants, and bilateral cochlear implants. Participants were exposed to melodies played on a piano or accordion, with and without an electric bass as a masker, accompanied by a basic drum rhythm. Bayesian logistic mixed-effects models were utilized to analyze the data. Results: The introduction of an electric bass as a masker did not significantly affect MCI performance for any hearing group when melodies were played on the piano, contrary to its effect on accordion melodies and previous studies. Greater challenges were observed with accordion melodies, especially when accompanied by an electric bass. Conclusions: MCI performance among hearing aid users was comparable to other hearing-impaired profiles, challenging the hypothesis that they would outperform cochlear implant users. A cohort of short melodies inspired by Western music styles was developed for future contour identification tasks.

The present longitudinal study investigated the hypothesis that early musical skills (as measured by melodic and rhythmic perception and memory) predict later literacy development via a mediating effect of phonology. We examined 130 French-speaking children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for developmental dyslexia (DD). Their abilities in the three domains were assessed longitudinally with a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we examined potential longitudinal effects from music to literacy via phonology. We then investigated how familial risk for DD may influence these relationships by testing whether atypical music processing is a risk factor for DD. Results showed that children with a familial risk for DD consistently underperformed children without familial risk in music, phonology, and literacy. A small effect of musical ability on literacy via phonology was observed, but may have been induced by differences in stability across domains over time. Furthermore, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. These findings are consistent with the idea that certain key auditory skills are shared between music and speech processing, and between DD and congenital amusia. However, they do not support the notion that music perception and memory skills can serve as a reliable early marker of DD, nor as a valuable target for reading remediation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Music, phonology, and literacy skills of 130 children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for dyslexia, were examined longitudinally. Children with a familial risk for dyslexia consistently underperformed children without familial risk in musical, phonological, and literacy skills. Structural equation models showed a small effect of musical ability in kindergarten on literacy in second grade, via phonology in first grade. However, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status.

Existing neuroimaging studies on neural correlates of musical familiarity often employ a familiar vs. unfamiliar contrast analysis. This singular analytical approach reveals associations between explicit musical memory and musical familiarity. However, is the neural activity associated with musical familiarity solely related to explicit musical memory, or could it also be related to implicit musical memory? To address this, we presented 130 song excerpts of varying familiarity to 21 participants. While acquiring their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we asked the participants to rate the familiarity of each song on a five-point scale. To comprehensively analyze the neural correlates of musical familiarity, we examined it from four perspectives: the intensity of local neural activity, patterns of local neural activity, global neural activity patterns, and functional connectivity. The results from these four approaches were consistent and revealed that musical familiarity is related to the activity of both explicit and implicit musical memory networks. Our findings suggest that: (1) musical familiarity is also associated with implicit musical memory, and (2) there is a cooperative and competitive interaction between the two types of musical memory in the perception of music.

Nowadays there are multiple ways to perceive music, from attending concerts (live) to listening to recorded music through headphones (medial). In between there are many mixed modes, such as playback performances. In empirical music research, this plurality of performance forms has so far found little recognition. Until now no measuring instrument has existed that could adequately capture the differences in perception and aesthetic judgment. The purpose of our empirical investigation was to capture all dimensions relevant to such an assessment. Using 3D-simulations and dynamic binaural synthesis, various live and medial situations were simulated. A qualitative survey was conducted at the Department of Audio Communication of the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). With the help of the repertory grid technique, a data pool of approximately 400 attribute pairs was created and individual rating data were collected. Our first study served to create a semantic differential. In a second study, this semantic differential was evaluated. The development of the semantic differential was carried out by first using a mixed-method approach to qualitative analysis according to grounded theory. Thereafter, a principal component analysis reduced the attribute pairs to 67 items in four components. The semantic differential consists of items concerning acoustic, visual and audio-visual interaction as well as items with an overarching assessment of the stimuli. The evaluation study, comprising 45 participants (23 male and 22 female, M = 42.56 years, SD = 17.16) who rated 12 stimuli each, reduced the items to 61 and resulted in 18 subscales and nine single items. Because the survey used simulations, the social component may be underrepresented. Nevertheless, the questionnaire we created enables the evaluation of music performances (especially for classical concerts) in a new scope, thus opening many opportunities for further research. For example, in a live concert context, we observed not only that seating position influences the judgment of sound quality but also that visual elements influence immersion and felt affect. In the future, the differential could be reviewed for a larger stimulus pool, extended or used modularly for different research questions.

We present a novel approach to representing perceptual and cognitive knowledge, spectral knowledge representation, that is focused on the oscillatory behaviour of the brain. The model is presented in the context of a larger hypothetical cognitive architecture. The model uses literal representations of waves to describe the dynamics of neural assemblies as they process perceived input. We show how the model can be applied to representations of sound, and usefully model music perception, specifically harmonic distance. We demonstrate that the model naturally captures both pitch and chord/key distance as empirically measured by Krumhansl and Kessler, thereby providing an underlying mechanism from which their toroidal model might arise. We evaluate our model with respect to those of Milne and others.

The most prevalent sensory impairment impacting the elderly is age-related hearing loss (HL), which affects around 65% of individuals over the age of 60 years. This bilateral, symmetrical sensorineural impairment profoundly affects auditory perception, speech discrimination, and the overall understanding of auditory signals. Influenced by diverse factors, age-related HL can substantially influence an individual\'s quality of life and mental health and can lead to depression. Cochlear implantation (CI) stands as a standard intervention, yet despite advancements, music perception challenges persist, which can be addressed with individualized music therapy. This case report describes the journey of an 81-year-old musician through profound sensorineural hearing loss, cochlear implantation, and rehabilitative music therapy. Auditory evaluations, musical exercises, and quality of life assessments highlighted meaningful improvements in music perception, auditory skills, and overall satisfaction post-implantation. Music therapy facilitated emotional, functional, and musical levels of engagement, notably enhancing his ability to perceive melody, rhythm, and different instruments. Moreover, subjective assessments and audiograms indicated marked improvements in auditory differentiation, music enjoyment, and overall hearing thresholds. This comprehensive approach integrating bilateral CIs and music therapy showcased audiological and quality of life enhancements in an elderly individual with profound hearing loss, emphasizing the efficacy of this combined treatment approach.

The present study tests the hypothesis that emotions of fear and anger are associated with distinct psychophysiological and neural circuitry according to discrete emotion model due to contrasting neurotransmitter activities, despite being included in the same affective group in many studies due to similar arousal-valance scores of them in emotion models. EEG data is downloaded from OpenNeuro platform with access number of ds002721. Brain connectivity estimations are obtained by using both functional and effective connectivity estimators in analysis of short (2 sec) and long (6 sec) EEG segments across the cortex. In tests, discrete emotions and resting-states are identified by frequency band specific brain network measures and then contrasting emotional states are deep classified with 5-fold cross-validated Long Short Term Memory Networks. Logistic regression modeling has also been examined to provide robust performance criteria. Commonly, the best results are obtained by using Partial Directed Coherence in Gamma (31.5-60.5Hz) sub-bands of short EEG segments. In particular, Fear and Anger have been classified with accuracy of 91.79%. Thus, our hypothesis is supported by overall results. In conclusion, Anger is found to be characterized by increased transitivity and decreased local efficiency in addition to lower modularity in Gamma-band in comparison to fear. Local efficiency refers functional brain segregation originated from the ability of the brain to exchange information locally. Transitivity refer the overall probability for the brain having adjacent neural populations interconnected, thus revealing the existence of tightly connected cortical regions. Modularity quantifies how well the brain can be partitioned into functional cortical regions. In conclusion, PDC is proposed to graph theoretical analysis of short EEG epochs in presenting robust emotional indicators sensitive to perception of affective sounds.