Aug 08 2019

A group of researchers led by Specially Appointed Associate Professor Kosuke Itoh of the Center for Integrated Human Brain Science, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University studied brain mechanisms responsible for absolute pitch by recording brain responses to the "do" sound using electroencephalograms of the left and right auditory areas. The results showed that while there was no hemispherical difference observed in the magnitude of response among musicians without absolute pitch or subjects with no musical experience, the response was left-dominant among musicians with absolute pitch. The left hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language processing. These results indicate that absolute pitch possessors process sounds such as "do", "re", and "mi", as they do language.

Publication Details

Title: Auditory T-complex reveals reduced neural activities in the right auditory cortex in musicians with absolute pitch

Journal: Frontiers in Neuroscience

Authors: Masato Matsuda, Hironaka Igarashi, Kosuke Itoh

DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00809