Natural music evokes correlated EEG responses reflecting temporal structure and beat

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 214; p. 116559
• Main Authors: Kaneshiro, Blair, Nguyen, Duc T., Norcia, Anthony M., Dmochowski, Jacek P., Berger, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2020; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation - methods; Adolescent; Adult; Auditory Perception - physiology; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping - methods; Brain research; EEG; Electroencephalography; Electroencephalography (EEG); Electroencephalography - methods; Engagement; Female; Humans; Listening; Male; Music; Music perception; Natural stimuli; Neural correlation; Neural decoding; Sensory integration; Studies; Visual stimuli; Young Adult; SS-EP; CPSD; RC1; Neural decoding; SRC; Natural stimuli; Engagement; RCA; Electroencephalography (EEG); Neural correlation; FDR; ISC; Music perception
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116559

The brain activity of multiple subjects has been shown to synchronize during salient moments of natural stimuli, suggesting that correlation of neural responses indexes a brain state operationally termed ‘engagement’. While past electroencephalography (EEG) studies have considered both auditory and visual stimuli, the extent to which these results generalize to music—a temporally structured stimulus for which the brain has evolved specialized circuitry—is less understood. Here we investigated neural correlation during natural music listening by recording EEG responses from N=48 adult listeners as they heard real-world musical works, some of which were temporally disrupted through shuffling of short-term segments (measures), reversal, or randomization of phase spectra. We measured correlation between multiple neural responses (inter-subject correlation) and between neural responses and stimulus envelope fluctuations (stimulus-response correlation) in the time and frequency domains. Stimuli retaining basic musical features, such as rhythm and melody, elicited significantly higher behavioral ratings and neural correlation than did phase-scrambled controls. However, while unedited songs were self-reported as most pleasant, time-domain correlations were highest during measure-shuffled versions. Frequency-domain measures of correlation (coherence) peaked at frequencies related to the musical beat, although the magnitudes of these spectral peaks did not explain the observed temporal correlations. Our findings show that natural music evokes significant inter-subject and stimulus-response correlations, and suggest that the neural correlates of musical ‘engagement’ may be distinct from those of enjoyment. [Display omitted] •We recorded EEG from 48 adults as they heard intact and scrambled natural music.•Inter-subject and stimulus-response EEG correlation and coherence were computed.•Neural correlation was significant for all stimuli retaining musical features.•Time-domain correlation was highest for music shuffled in short time segments.•Coherence peaks implicated frequencies related to metrical pulse.