Efficiency of Listening to the Melody and Neural Correlates of Tonality Differentiation

Abstract

Current knowledge suggests that the perception of music and its development may be fully described using the languages of physics, medicine, and neuroscience including computational neuroscience. The aim of this study is to establish a methodological setting for testing the neural correlates of tonality differentiation. The procedure described in the article allows for a comparison of the outcomes of differential tonality listening in people with a certain level of stabilized musical abilities, and their neural correlations using EEG, taking into consideration the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) paradigm. The proposed methodology may constitute another step toward the assessment and objectivization of musical abilities. The hypothesis regarding the reflection of musical abilities in auditory pathways activation within CNS may prove to be true.