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The Cortical Topography of Tonal Structures Underlying Western Music
Petr Janata,12*Jeffrey L. Birk,1John D. Van Horn,23Marc Leman,4Barbara Tillmann,12Jamshed J. Bharucha12
Western tonal music relies on a formal geometric
structure that determines distance relationships within a harmonic or
tonalspace. In functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, weidentified an area in the rostromedial prefrontal cortex thattracks
activation in tonal space. Different voxels in this areaexhibited
selectivity for different keys. Within the same setof consistently
activated voxels, the topography of tonality selectivityrearranged
itself across scanning sessions. The tonality structurewas thus
maintained as a dynamic topography in cortical areasknown to be at a
nexus of cognitive, affective, and mnemonic processing.
1 Department of Psychological and Brain
Sciences,
2 Center for Cognitive Neuroscience,
3 Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center, Dartmouth College,
Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
4 Institute for
Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
petr.janata{at}dartmouth.edu
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Robert J. Zatorre and Carol L. Krumhansl (13 December 2002) Science298 (5601), 2138.
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