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Abstract:
Music reading was investigated using both the Event-Related
Potentials (ERPs) and Reaction Time (RTs) methods to determine
whether pitch and duration are processed as independent or
integrated dimensions. A key and metric signature were presented as
prime and musicians were required to decide whether the following
target note matched one of the dimension, pitch or duration,
provided by the prime. In one condition musicians knew which
dimension was relevant, while in the other condition, the prime did
not provide advance information and musicians had to process both
dimensions. If pitch and duration are processed independently,
results should show no interference of the irrelevant dimension on
the processing of the relevant dimension. In contrast, if they are
processed as integrated dimensions, processing of the relevant
dimension should be influenced by the congruency on the irrelevant
dimension. Results showed that RTs were shorter in the pitch than
in the duration task and for congruous than for incongruous target
notes. In the ERPs, this congruity effect was reflected by a
negative component, N450, to incongruous targets. Differences also
emerged in the ERPs depending upon whether musicians processed
pitch or duration. Most importantly, the congruency of the target
note on the irrelevant dimension did not have any effect on RTs and
ERPs, strongly suggesting that pitch and duration are processed
independently.
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