Sebastian Jentschke

Universal Recognition of Three Basic Emotions in Music

It has long been debated which aspects of music perception are universal and which are developed only after exposure to a specific musical culture. Here, we report a crosscultural study with participants from a native African population (Mafa) and Western participants, with both groups being naive to the music of the other respective culture. Experiment 1 investigated the ability to recognize three basic emotions (happy, sad, scared/fearful) expressed in Western music. Results show that the Mafas recognized happy, sad, and scared/fearful Western music excerpts above chance, indicating that the expression of these basic emotions in Western music can be recognized universally. Experiment 2 examined how a spectral manipulation of original, naturalistic music affects the perceived pleasantness of music in Western as well as in Mafa listeners. The spectral manipulation modified, among other factors, the sensory dissonance of the music. The data show that both groups preferred original Western music and also original Mafa music over their spectrally manipulated versions. It is likely that the sensory dissonance produced by the spectral manipulation was at least partly responsible for this effect, suggesting that consonance and permanent sensory dissonance universally influence the perceived pleasantness of music.

Musical training modulates the development of syntax processing in children.

The question of how musical training can influence perceptual and cognitive abilities of children has been the subject of numerous past studies. However, evidence showing which neural mechanisms underlie changes in cognitive skills in another domain following musical training has remained sparse. Syntax processing in language and music has been shown to rely on overlapping neural resources, and this study compared the neural correlates of language- and music-syntactic processing between children with and without long-term musical training. Musically trained children had larger amplitudes of the ERAN (early right anterior negativity), elicited by music-syntactic irregularities. Furthermore, the ELAN (early left anterior negativity), a neurophysiological marker of syntax processing in language, was more strongly developed in these children, and they furthermore had an enlarged amplitude of a later negativity, assumed to reflect more sustained syntax processing. Thus, our data suggest that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying syntax processing in music and language are developed earlier, and more strongly, in children with musical training.

Children with specific language impairment also show impairment of music-syntactic processing

Both language and music consist of sequences that are structured according to syntactic regularities. We used two specific event-related brain potential (ERP) components to investigate music-syntactic processing in children: the ERAN (early right anterior negativity) and the N5. The neural resources underlying these processes have been posited to overlap with those involved in the processing of linguistic syntax. Thus, we expected children with specific language impairment (SLI, which is characterized by deficient processing of linguistic syntax) to demonstrate difficulties with music-syntactic processing. Such difficulties were indeed observed in the neural correlates of music-syntactic processing: neither an ERAN nor an N5 was elicited in children with SLI, whereas both components were evoked in age-matched control children with typical language development. Moreover, the amplitudes of ERAN and N5 were correlated with subtests of a language development test. These data provide evidence for a strong interrelation between the language and the music processing system, thereby setting the ground for possible effects of musical training in SLI therapy.

Processing of hierarchical syntactic structure in music

Hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is a key feature of human language and can be identified theoretically in most pieces of tonal music. However, previous studies have argued against the perception of such structures in music. Here, we show processing of nonlocal dependencies in music. We presented chorales by J. S. Bach and modified versions in which the hierarchical structure was rendered irregular whereas the local structure was kept intact. Brain electric responses differed between regular and irregular hierarchical structures, in both musicians and nonmusicians. This finding indicates that, when listening to music, humans apply cognitive processes that are capable of dealing with long-distance dependencies resulting from hierarchically organized syntactic structures. Our results reveal that a brain mechanism fundamental for syntactic processing is engaged during the perception of music, indicating that processing of hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is not just a key component of human language, but a multidomain capacity of human cognition.

Normative Development of White Matter Tracts: Similarities and Differences in Relation to Age, Gender, and Intelligence

The white matter of the brain undergoes a range of structural changes throughout development; from conception to birth, in infancy, and onwards through childhood and adolescence. Several studies have used diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) to investigate these changes, but a consensus has not yet emerged on which white matter tracts undergo changes in the later stages of development or what the most important driving factors are behind these changes. In this study of typically developing 8- to 16-year-old children, we use a comprehensive data-driven approach based on principal components analysis to identify effects of age, gender, and brain volume on dMRI parameters, as well as their relative importance. We also show that secondary components of these parameters predict full-scale IQ, independently of the age- and gender-related effects. This overarching assessment of the common factors and gender differences in normal white matter tract development will help to advance understanding of this process in late childhood and adolescence.

A cardiac signature of emotionality

Human personality has brain correlates that exert manifold influences on biological processes. This study investigates relations between emotional personality and heart activity. Our data demonstrate that emotional personality is related to a specific cardiac amplitude signature in the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Two experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging show that this signature correlates with brain activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus during the processing of musical stimuli with emotional valence. Additionally, this cardiac signature correlates with subjective indices of emotionality (as measured by the Revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and with both time and frequency domain measures of the heart rate variability. The results demonstrate intricate connections between emotional personality and the heart by showing that ECG amplitude patterns provide considerably more information about an individuals emotionality than previously believed. The finding of a cardiac signature of emotional personality opens new perspectives for the investigation of relations between emotional dysbalance and cardiovascular disease.

Investigating the Relationship of Music and Language in Children Influences of Musical Training and Language Impairment

Abstract: Language and music are human universals involving perceptually discrete elements organized in hierarchically structured sequences. The set of principles governing the combination of these structural elements into sequences is known as syntax. A violation of expectancies concerning syntactic regularities may be reflected by two ERP components: the ERAN (early right anterior negativity) and the ELAN (early left anterior negativity). The ERAN is evoked by a violation of musical regularities, whereas the ELAN is linked to syntax processing in the language domain. There is evidence from adult data to suggest that both ERAN and ELAN are, at least partly, generated in the same brain regions. Therefore, it seems plausible to expect transfer effects between music and language due to shared processing resources. Moreover, the ERAN is larger in adults with formal musical training (musicians) than in those without, indicating that more specific representations of musical regularities lead to heightened musical expectancies. The aim of this study is to investigate these issues in child development. We conducted two experimental sessions with the same participants and compared children with and without musical training (11 years old) and children with or without language impairment (5 years old). In a music experiment, the reactions to chord sequences ending either with a (regular) tonic or with an (irregular) supertonic were compared. For a language experiment we used syntactically correct and incorrect sentences. Preliminary results show that an ERAN is present in both groups and appears to have a larger amplitude in musically trained children. In addition, there are indications of an enhanced negativity in response to a syntactic violation in the musically trained children. The relationship between the ERP components is, moreover, manifested in the finding that an ERAN is present in linguistically nonimpaired children at the age of 5 years but not in children with language impairment of the same age.

Differences in electric brain responses to melodies and chords

The music we usually listen to in everyday life consists of either single melodies or harmonized melodies (i.e., of melodies “accompanied” by chords). However, differences in the neural mechanisms underlying melodic and harmonic processing have remained largely unknown. Using EEG, this study compared effects of music-syntactic processing between chords and melodies. In melody blocks, sequences consisted of five tones, the final tone being either regular or irregular (p = .5). Analogously, in chord blocks, sequences consisted of five chords, the final chord function being either regular or irregular. Melodies were derived from the top voice of chord sequences, allowing a proper comparison between melodic and harmonic processing. Music-syntactic incongruities elicited an early anterior negativity with a latency of approximately 125 msec in both the melody and the chord conditions. This effect was followed in the chord condition, but not in the melody condition, by an additional negative effect that was maximal at approximately 180 msec. Both effects were maximal at frontal electrodes, but the later effect was more broadly distributed over the scalp than the earlier effect. These findings indicate that melodic information (which is also contained in the top voice of chords) is processed earlier and with partly different neural mechanisms than harmonic information of chords.

Short-term effects of processing musical syntax: An ERP study

We investigated influences of short-term experience on music-syntactic processing, using a chord-sequence paradigm in which sequences ended on a harmony that was syntactically either regular or irregular. In contrast to previous studies (in which block durations were rather short), chord sequences were presented to participants for around 2 h while they were watching a silent movie with subtitles. Results showed that the music-syntactically irregular chord functions elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN), and that the ERAN amplitude significantly declined over the course of the experiment. The ERAN has previously been suggested to reflect the processing of music-syntactic irregularities, and the present data show that the cognitive representations of musical regularities are influenced by the repeated presentation of unexpected, irregular harmonies. Because harmonies were task-irrelevant, the data suggest that cognitive representations of musical regularities can change implicitly, i.e., even when listeners do not attend to the harmonies, and when they are presumably oblivious of the changes of such representations. Although the ERAN amplitude was significantly reduced, it was still present towards the end of the experiment at the right anterior electrodes, indicating that cognitive representations of basic music-syntactic regularities cannot easily be erased.

Neural correlates of emotional personality: a structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Studies addressing brain correlates of emotional personality have remained sparse, despite the involvement of emotional personality in health and well-being. This study investigates structural and functional brain correlates of psychological and physiological measures related to emotional personality. Psychological measures included neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness scores, as assessed using a standard personality questionnaire. As a physiological measure we used a cardiac amplitude signature, the so-called E κ value (computed from the electrocardiogram) which has previously been related to tender emotionality. Questionnaire scores and E κ values were related to both functional (eigenvector centrality mapping, ECM) and structural (voxel-based morphometry, VBM) neuroimaging data. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were obtained from 22 individuals (12 females) while listening to music (joy, fear, or neutral music). ECM results showed that agreeableness scores correlated with centrality values in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens). Individuals with higher E κ values (indexing higher tender emotionality) showed higher centrality values in the subiculum of the right hippocampal formation. Structural MRI data from an independent sample of 59 individuals (34 females) showed that neuroticism scores correlated with volume of the left amygdaloid complex. In addition, individuals with higher E κ showed larger gray matter volume in the same portion of the subiculum in which individuals with higher E κ showed higher centrality values. Our results highlight a role of the amygdala in neuroticism. Moreover, they indicate that a cardiac signature related to emotionality (E κ) correlates with both function (increased network centrality) and structure (grey matter volume) of the subiculum of the hippocampal formation, suggesting a role of the hippocampal formation for emotional personality. Results are the first to show personality-related differences using eigenvector centrality mapping, and the first to show structural brain differences for a physiological measure associated with personality.