Study of Gong tone matching to five colors based on event-related potential

Objective To investigate the neural mechanism of Gong tone matching to the five colors. Methods The experiment was designed using event-related potential technique, following the S1→S2 paradigm, and dividing into two arms according to the Gong tone being played in harmonics or open strings. For each arm, S1 was the playing of the Gong tone, followed by S2, where subjects, based on their first reaction, were required to make a yes/no judgement to whether the tone matches to a randomly-picked color out of the five colors. During this process, the event-related potentials were recorded. Results Gong tone played in harmonics, most participants matched it with black and cyan; while in the open strings arm, most matched it with black. The average amplitudes of P300 at PZ, FZ, and CZ points were compared. For the Gong tone played in harmonics, there was a significant difference between those who matched it with black and those who did otherwise (P < .01). There was also a significant difference between those who matched it with cyan and those who did otherwise (P < .01). For the open strings arm, there was a significant difference between those who matched it with black and those who did otherwise (P < .01). Conclusion Our comparison of the average amplitudes of P300 suggests a commonality in the neural mechanism underlying categorical thinking that is not fundamentally altered by playing style. However, behavioral theory suggests that playing style does have an influence on categorization. The Gong tone can be matched with any of the five colors, which accords with the thought of central Earth in the five-element theory. This provides evidence of the similarity within five elements correspondences existing alongside the indirect matching between five tones and five colors.