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Comparative Study
. 2013 Sep 17;110(38):15443-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1300272110. Epub 2013 Sep 3.

Processing of hierarchical syntactic structure in music

Stefan Koelsch  1 , Martin Rohrmeier, Renzo Torrecuso, Sebastian Jentschke
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Processing of hierarchical syntactic structure in music

Stefan Koelsch et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is a key feature of human language and can be identified theoretically in most pieces of tonal music. However, previous studies have argued against the perception of such structures in music. Here, we show processing of nonlocal dependencies in music. We presented chorales by J. S. Bach and modified versions in which the hierarchical structure was rendered irregular whereas the local structure was kept intact. Brain electric responses differed between regular and irregular hierarchical structures, in both musicians and nonmusicians. This finding indicates that, when listening to music, humans apply cognitive processes that are capable of dealing with long-distance dependencies resulting from hierarchically organized syntactic structures. Our results reveal that a brain mechanism fundamental for syntactic processing is engaged during the perception of music, indicating that processing of hierarchical structure with nested nonlocal dependencies is not just a key component of human language, but a multidomain capacity of human cognition.

Keywords: EEG; context-free grammar; electroencephalography; parsing; syntax.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Illustration of stimuli. (A) Original version of J. S. Bach’s chorale Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 373). The first phrase ends on an open dominant (see chord with fermata below orange rectangle), and the second phrase ends on a tonic (dotted rectangle). The tree structure above the scores represents a schematic diagram of the harmonic dependencies (for full tree graphs, see Figs. S2 and S3). The two thick vertical lines (separating the first and the second phrase) visualize that the local dominant (V in orange rectangle) is not immediately followed by a resolving tonic chord but implies its resolution with the final tonic (indicated by the dotted arrow). The same dependency exists between initial and final tonic (indicated by the solid arrow). The tree thus illustrates the nonlocal (long-distance) dependency between the initial and final tonic regions and tonic chords, respectively (also illustrated by the blue rectangles). The chords belonging to a key other than the initial key (yellow rectangle) represent one level of embedding. (B) Modified version (the first phrase was transposed downward by the pitch interval of one fourth, red color). The tree structure above the scores illustrates that the second phrase is not compatible with an expected tonic region (indicated by the red dotted line with the red question mark) and that the last chord (a tonic of a local cadence, dotted rectangle) neither prolongs the initial tonic nor closes the open dominant (see solid and dotted lines followed by red question mark). In both A and B, Roman numerals indicate scale degrees. T, S, and D indicate the main tonal functions (tonic, subdominant, dominant) of the respective part of the sequence (such as functional regions in the GSM). Squared brackets indicate scale degrees relative to the local key (in the original version, the yellow rectangle indicates that the local key of C major is a subdominant region of the initial key G major).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Brain electric responses to chords. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) evoked by the final chords are shown in A, and ERPs evoked by the first chord of the second phrase are shown in B, separately for original (blue waveforms) and modified versions (red waveforms). Upper of A shows that, compared with ERPs evoked by original versions, modified versions evoked an early negativity that was maximal at around 220 ms, and a later negativity that emerged at around 500 ms, and lasted until around 850 ms (best to be seen in the black difference wave: original subtracted from modified versions). Presentation time of the final chord was 1,200 ms. The lower panel of A shows the scalp distribution of the early and late ERP effects elicited by the final chords of modified versions (difference potentials: original subtracted from modified versions). Upper of B shows that, compared with ERPs evoked by original versions, modified versions evoked an early negativity that was maximal at around 200 ms, and a later positivity between around 400–500 ms (best to be seen in the black difference wave: original subtracted from modified version). Presentation time of chords was 600 ms. Lower of B shows the scalp distribution of the early and late ERP effects (difference potentials: original subtracted from modified version). Gray-shaded areas indicate time windows used for the statistical analysis reported in the main text. ERPs were recorded from 12 musicians and 12 nonmusicians; none of the ERP effects differed significantly between groups.
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