Magnetoencephalography study reveals how active listening and missing fundamentals affect auditory responses.
Key Points
The study aims to understand how fundamental frequencies, listening conditions, and musical expertise influence brain responses to consonance and dissonance in music.
39 normal-hearing adults participated in psychometric testing for pitch perception and musical aptitude.
Participants listened to consonant and dissonant dyads with and without fundamental frequencies.
Cortical auditory evoked fields and brainstem-level frequency-following responses were recorded.
Experiments included both active and passive listening conditions.
Consonant dyads triggered earlier cortical activity compared to dissonant dyads.
Stronger frequency-following responses were noted for the fundamental frequency of the high dyad component.
C/D-related responses remained consistent irrespective of active listening or musical aptitude.
Listeners with strong f<sub>0</sub>-based pitch perception performed worse on dyads missing fundamental frequencies.