Abstrato

Brain processing and coding responses to musical expertise: An EEG study.

Vitória Silva, Telmo Pereira*, Jorge Conde

Introduction: The neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. Art is a product of human creativity. It is a superior skill that can be learned by study, practice and observation. The connection between brain and music is robust and bidirectional. Objectives: To understand the changes in cerebral activity produced by learning part of musical theory - the melodic intervals. Methods: Fifteen non-musicians, without any academic theoretical musical knowledge and, mean ages of 20.40 ± 1.96 years, were selected to participate voluntarily in this observational and prospective study. Using the electroencephalogram (EEG) as the acquiring method, cerebral activity was analyzed at two different moments, baseline and after a 5 day training period. The EEG task corresponded to recognize and identify the melodic intervals in display. Results: Behavioral responses exposed an improvement on reaction time factor and accuracy for the second exam answers of 49.83 ± 9.72 and 3.01 ± 1.53 seconds respectively, against the 40.67 ± 9.24 and 4.29 ± 1.98 seconds of the first evaluation. EEG frequencies outcomes have been underlined in alpha, beta and gamma absolute power frequency bands and in alpha-frequency relative band of power when basal and after-training replies were compared. The results shown a bilateral collaboration of the different regions of the brain and both cerebral hemispheres in physiological functions related with the learning process of music. Conclusions: Cerebral activation, activity and frequencies in non-musicians which have acquired some theoretical musical knowledge exhibit visible differences in-between evaluations. The human brain is very complex in the way it perceives information that it receives through sensory input. The two cerebral hemispheres perform distinct, however in harmony, functions.