Neural correlates of benefits for sensory consonance

Neural correlates of benefits for sensory consonance

Paola Crespo-Bojorque1, Júlia Monte-Ordoño1, and Juan M. Toro1, 2

1. Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

2. ICREA

Consonant and dissonant musical intervals differ in how pleasant they are perceived and how easily they are processed. Consonant intervals tend to be rated as more pleasant and are more readily processed than dissonant intervals. In the present study, we explore how the brain responds after changes in consonance and dissonance, and how experience modulates these responses. We registered event-related brain potentials (ERP) while participants were presented with sequences of consonant intervals interrupted by a dissonant interval, or sequences of dissonant intervals interrupted by a consonant interval. Participants were musicians or musically naive volunteers. Results showed that changes in a sequence of consonant intervals are easily detected independently of musical expertise, as revealed by a MMN component elicited in both musicians and non-musicians. Changes in a sequence of dissonant intervals elicited a late MMN only in participants with extensive musical training. Even more, a P100 (an ERP component related to unpleasant stimuli) was elicited only in non-musicians when a dissonant sound appeared in a consonant sequence. Our results demonstrate a processing advantage for consonance at the neural level. They also provide support to the idea that experience improves processing of musical intervals and influences the aesthetic perception of sounds.