Perceptual and neural correlates of sensory and cognitive priming in chord sequence

Harmony perception in music is subject to cognitive priming based on tonality as well as sensory priming from spectral overlap and pitch cues. This study aims to determine the relative contributions of cognitive and sensory priming to harmonic expectation, measured using behavioral responses as well as the early right anterior negativity (ERAN) from the electroencephalogram (EEG). We used seven-chord sequences divided into three conditions: expected, unexpected, and atonal (no strong expectations). To control for spectral priming, the context chords and the final chord were filtered into mutually exclusive spectral regions. To control for pitch priming, the context chords shared no pitches with the final chord in one condition. Listeners rated stimuli on a scale from 1 (unexpected) to 7 (expected) and then listened to the same stimuli in a passive listening EEG paradigm. Behavioral data showed a consistent effect of harmonic expectation across filtering conditions, confirming a cognitive explanation for this effect. EEG data showed an ERAN in “unexpected” conditions when pitch priming is present, but with a less pronounced ERAN in conditions that control for pitch priming, suggesting that pitch adaptation and sensory priming play a role in early brain responses to harmony. [Work supported by NIH grant R00DC017472 (AHM)]