Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (26)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schuppert, M.
Right arrow Articles by Altenmüller, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schuppert, M.
Right arrow Articles by Altenmüller, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Brain, Vol. 123, No. 3, 546-559, March 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press

Invited review

Receptive amusia: evidence for cross-hemispheric neural networks underlying music processing strategies

Maria Schuppert1,2, Thomas F. Münte2, Bernardina M. Wieringa2 and Eckart Altenmüller1

1 Institute of Music Physiology and Performing Arts Medicine, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover and 2 Department of Neurology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany

Correspondence to: Maria Schuppert, MD, and Eckart Altenmüller, MD, Institute of Music Physiology and Performing Arts Medicine, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover Plathnerstraße 35, 30175 Hannover, Germany E-mail: schuppert{at}hmt-hannover.de

Perceptual musical functions were investigated in patients suffering from unilateral cerebrovascular cortical lesions. Using MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) technique, a standardized short test battery was established that covers local (analytical) as well as global perceptual mechanisms. These represent the principal cognitive strategies in melodic and temporal musical information processing (local, interval and rhythm; global, contour and metre). Of the participating brain-damaged patients, a total of 69% presented with post-lesional impairments in music perception. Left-hemisphere-damaged patients showed significant deficits in the discrimination of local as well as global structures in both melodic and temporal information processing. Right-hemisphere-damaged patients also revealed an overall impairment of music perception, reaching significance in the temporal conditions. Detailed analysis outlined a hierarchical organization, with an initial right-hemisphere recognition of contour and metre followed by identification of interval and rhythm via left-hemisphere subsystems. Patterns of dissociated and associated melodic and temporal deficits indicate autonomous, yet partially integrated neural subsystems underlying the processing of melodic and temporal stimuli. In conclusion, these data contradict a strong hemispheric specificity for music perception, but indicate cross-hemisphere, fragmented neural substrates underlying local and global musical information processing in the melodic and temporal dimensions. Due to the diverse profiles of neuropsychological deficits revealed in earlier investigations as well as in this study, individual aspects of musicality and musical behaviour very likely contribute to the definite formation of these widely distributed neural networks.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 BrainHome page
L. Stewart, K. von Kriegstein, J. D. Warren, and T. D. Griffiths
Music and the brain: disorders of musical listening
Brain, October 1, 2006; 129(10): 2533 - 2553.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Psychology of MusicHome page
S. Brandler and T. H. Rammsayer
Differences in Mental Abilities between Musicians and Non-Musicians
Psychology of Music, April 1, 2003; 31(2): 123 - 138.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 JWatch NeurologyHome page
Receptive Amusia and Music Processing Strategies
Journal Watch Neurology, July 1, 2000; 2000(701): 7 - 7.
[Full Text]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.