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Abstract:
In recent ERP-studies, brain responses reflecting the
processing of musical chord-sequences resembled brain activity
elicited during the perception of language. This finding raises the
question of whether the brain employs the neuronal network known to
be involved in the processing of language also for the processing
of music. In the present fMRI-experiment, chord-sequences were
presented, either consisting of consonant in-key chords only, or
containing an unexpected chord (either a consonant chord which
contained out-of-key notes with respect to the preceding musical
context, or a dissonant tone-cluster, or a chord played on a
deviant instrument instead of on piano). Unexpected chords
activated a cortical network comprising the area of Broca and
Wernicke, the superior temporal sulcus, Heschl's gyrus, both planum
polare and planum temporale, as well as the anterior superior
insular cortices. All these brain structures are known to perform
important functions for the understanding of language. Up to now,
the neuronal network comprising these structures has been thought
to be domain-specific for auditory language processing. To what
extent this network might also be activated by the processing of
non-linguistic information has remained unknown. The present data
show that the human brain employs this neuronal network also for
the processing of musical information (though with a
right-hemispheric predominance), indicating that the cortical
network known to support auditory language processing is less
domain-specific than previously believed.
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