Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features
Little is known about expertise-related plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. Here, we contrast two diverging hypotheses that musical expertise is associated with more independent or more integrated predictive processing of acoustic features relevant to melody perception....
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.907540/full |
| _version_ | 1797995616291258368 |
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| author | Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Andreas Højlund Andreas Højlund Cecilie Møller Cecilie Møller Marcus Pearce Marcus Pearce Peter Vuust |
| author_facet | Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Andreas Højlund Andreas Højlund Cecilie Møller Cecilie Møller Marcus Pearce Marcus Pearce Peter Vuust |
| author_sort | Niels Chr. Hansen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Little is known about expertise-related plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. Here, we contrast two diverging hypotheses that musical expertise is associated with more independent or more integrated predictive processing of acoustic features relevant to melody perception. Mismatch negativity (MMNm) was recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG) from 25 musicians and 25 non-musicians, exposed to interleaved blocks of a complex, melody-like multi-feature paradigm and a simple, oddball control paradigm. In addition to single deviants differing in frequency (F), intensity (I), or perceived location (L), double and triple deviants were included reflecting all possible feature combinations (FI, IL, LF, FIL). Following previous work, early neural processing overlap was approximated in terms of MMNm additivity by comparing empirical MMNms obtained with double and triple deviants to modeled MMNms corresponding to summed constituent single-deviant MMNms. Significantly greater subadditivity was found in musicians compared to non-musicians, specifically for frequency-related deviants in complex, melody-like stimuli. Despite using identical sounds, expertise effects were absent from the simple oddball paradigm. This novel finding supports the integrated processing hypothesis whereby musicians recruit overlapping neural resources facilitating more integrative representations of contextually relevant stimuli such as frequency (perceived as pitch) during melody perception. More generally, these specialized refinements in predictive processing may enable experts to optimally capitalize upon complex, domain-relevant, acoustic cues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:04:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e327f99506454c00bbabdceeb57af298 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-453X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:04:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-e327f99506454c00bbabdceeb57af2982022-12-22T04:30:17ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2022-10-011610.3389/fnins.2022.907540907540Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic featuresNiels Chr. Hansen0Niels Chr. Hansen1Niels Chr. Hansen2Andreas Højlund3Andreas Højlund4Cecilie Møller5Cecilie Møller6Marcus Pearce7Marcus Pearce8Peter Vuust9Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Dramaturgy and Musicology, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Linguistics, Cognitive Science, and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health, Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, DenmarkSchool of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Cognitive Science Research Group and Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, DenmarkLittle is known about expertise-related plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. Here, we contrast two diverging hypotheses that musical expertise is associated with more independent or more integrated predictive processing of acoustic features relevant to melody perception. Mismatch negativity (MMNm) was recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG) from 25 musicians and 25 non-musicians, exposed to interleaved blocks of a complex, melody-like multi-feature paradigm and a simple, oddball control paradigm. In addition to single deviants differing in frequency (F), intensity (I), or perceived location (L), double and triple deviants were included reflecting all possible feature combinations (FI, IL, LF, FIL). Following previous work, early neural processing overlap was approximated in terms of MMNm additivity by comparing empirical MMNms obtained with double and triple deviants to modeled MMNms corresponding to summed constituent single-deviant MMNms. Significantly greater subadditivity was found in musicians compared to non-musicians, specifically for frequency-related deviants in complex, melody-like stimuli. Despite using identical sounds, expertise effects were absent from the simple oddball paradigm. This novel finding supports the integrated processing hypothesis whereby musicians recruit overlapping neural resources facilitating more integrative representations of contextually relevant stimuli such as frequency (perceived as pitch) during melody perception. More generally, these specialized refinements in predictive processing may enable experts to optimally capitalize upon complex, domain-relevant, acoustic cues.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.907540/fullauditory perceptionmusicexpertisefeature integrationmismatch negativitymelody |
| spellingShingle | Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Niels Chr. Hansen Andreas Højlund Andreas Højlund Cecilie Møller Cecilie Møller Marcus Pearce Marcus Pearce Peter Vuust Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features Frontiers in Neuroscience auditory perception music expertise feature integration mismatch negativity melody |
| title | Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| title_full | Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| title_fullStr | Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| title_full_unstemmed | Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| title_short | Musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| title_sort | musicians show more integrated neural processing of contextually relevant acoustic features |
| topic | auditory perception music expertise feature integration mismatch negativity melody |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.907540/full |
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