S&P Final

Music perception, touch, pain, olfaction, and taste

Music

Music

ordered sound made and perceived by human beings, created in meaningful patterns

Pitch

the subjective experience of sound that is most closely associated with the frequency of a sound stimulus

Western range of music pitch

27.5 Hz - 5,000 Hz

Human voice range

75 Hz - 1,300 Hz

Octave

the interval between one note and a note with either double the frequency or half the frequency of that note

Chroma

the subjective quality of a pitch

Semitone

the 12 equivalent intervals or notes within each octave

Pitch Helix

Shepard, 1982; shows the relation of both pitch and frequency, and of pitch similarity across octaves

Equal-temperament scale

a tuning system in which the difference between each successive semitone is constant in both pitch and frequency

Chromatic scale

A musical scale that includes all twelve pitches within an octave, moving in half steps

Pentatonic scale

A musical scale with five notes per octave, often used in blues, rock, and jazz music.

Harmony

the pleasant sound that results when two or more notes are played together

Consonance

the perception of pleasantness or harmony when two or more notes are played

Dissonance

the perception of unpleasantness or disharmony when two or more notes do not fit together

Chord

when more than two notes are played at the same time

Dynamics

relative loudness and how loudness changes across a composition

Rhythm

temporal patterning of the music, including the tempo, the meter, and the beat

Tempo

the pace at which a piece of music is played; fast usually used to express joy, and slow usually used to express sadness

Meter

the temporal pattern of sound across time

Beat

spaced pulses that indicate if a piece is fast or slow

Timbre

the perceived sound differences between sounds with the same pitch but possessing different higher harmonics

Attack

the beginning buildup of a note

Decay

how long the fundamental frequency and harmonics remain at their peak loudness until they start to disappear

Melody

a rhythmically organized sequence of notes, which we perceive as a single musical unit or idea

Scale

a set of ordered notes starting at one note and ending at the same note one octave higher

Key

the tonic note (e.g., C in a C major or minor scale) that gives a subjective sense of arrival and rest in a musical piece

Transposition

the process through which one can create multiple versions of a melody that start on different notes but contain the same intervals or sequence of changes in notes

Gestalt Principles of Melody

proximity, similarity, closure, and good continuation

Gestalt Principle of Proximity

refers to musical elements being close together in pitch, time, or space

Gestalt Principle of Similarity

refers to the ability to create seamless perceptions of melody even when the melody crosses from one voice or one instrument to another; may hear similar timbres grouped together

Gestalt Principle of Closure

refers to the idea that a melody should end on the tonic note of any particular scale or another note implied by the progression of the melody

Gestalt Principle of Good Continuation

refers to how composers tend to have one note be relatively close to the previous note in pitch, and this helps us to perceive the notes as connected. composers often create two lines within a musical piece alternating between a high note and a low note successively

Musical Phonemic Restoration

DeWitt + Samuel (1990), participants reported hearing the missing note from a major scale (plus two notes) when the note was replaced with white noise

Music perception usually causes greater activation in the _________

right temporal lobe

What area of the brain is implied in pitch perception in music?

right secondary auditory cortex

Which hemisphere is more sensitive to small changes in pitch?

right hemisphere

Rhythm appears to be processed in the ___________

right primary auditory cortex

The ________ in the _______ is the area of the brain that processes musical stimuli.

secondary auditory cortex; temporal lobe

The ______ preserves a representation of the __________ of a sound, which is critical in the perception of _____________.

auditory nerve; frequency; pitch

Synesthesia

a condition in which a stimulus in one modality consistently triggers a response in another modality

Color-music synesthesia

a condition in a person where particular pitches, notes, or chords elicit experiences of particular visual colors

People with color-music synesthesia tend to have…

stronger axonal (white matter) connections between the visual and auditory cortices

Amusia

a condition in which brain damage interferes with the perception of music, but does not interfere with other aspects of auditory processing

Congenital amusia

a condition in which people are inherently poor at music perception

Deficits of amusia

impaired ability to discriminate pitches, produce and enjoy music

Congenital amusia may be due to ___________________

deficits in the transmission of information from the auditory associative cortex

Similarities between Music + Language

• involve perception and production

• perception of novel and complex sounds and transmit meaning

• have structure that must be followed for it to make sense

• use same basic auditory regions and develop at similar times

Differences between Music + Language

• speech perception is based on the inference of subtle differences in the patterns that produce different vowels and consonants

• music focuses on pitch and pitch contrasts

• language predominantly uses the left hemisphere

• music predominantly uses the right hemisphere

All cultures use pitch and rhythm to express ________ in their music

emotion

How does Western and Indian raga music differ?

Indian raga uses 22 notes in an octave, whereas Western music uses 12 notes in an octave

Shepard tones

a musical illusion where you hear a scale that sounds like it increases in pitch continually; also called “the Barber Pole illusion”

The Octave Illusion

one tone is presented to one ear, while another tone, exactly one octave higher or lower, is presented simultaneously to the other ear. however, the next note combination is of the same two notes, but to the opposite ears

The Tritone Paradox

each note is an envelope of sound sweeping from one octave to the next, but with a heard pitch equivalent to the lower note

The Scale Illusion

a musical illusion where a descending and ascending scale is heard in one ear, and an ascending and descending scale is heard in the other ear

Epidermis

the outer layer of the skin

The epidermis is _______

avascular, meaning it draws oxygen from the air

Where is the epidermis thickest/thinnest?

palms + soles of our feet; eyelds

Dermis

the inner layer of the skin

Mechanoreceptors

the sensory receptors in the skin that transduce physical movement on the skin into neural signals, which are sent to the brain

SAI mechanoreceptors

slow-adapting receptors with small receptive fields

Two-Point Threshold Response

The minimum distance at which two separate points of contact on the skin can be felt as distinct stimuli

What type of receptors are key for the Two-Point Threshold Response?

SAI mechanoreceptors

Where are you most responsive to the Two-Point Threshold Response?

fingertips and lips, where SAI mechanoreceptors are high in density

SAII mechanoreceptors

slow-adapting receptors with large receptive fields

SA mechanoreceptors give a _________ response for ___________

sustained; as long as the skin is being stimulated

FAI mechanoreceptors

fast-adapting receptors with small receptive fields

FAII mechanoreceptors

fast-adapting receptors with large receptive fields

FA mechanoreceptors respond to the _______ and the_________ of a stimulus.

beginning; end

Merkel cells

specialized transduction cells in SAI mechanoreceptors; important for fine touch

Ruffini endings

specialized transduction cells in SAII mechanoreceptors; important for stretch/feedback

Meissner corpuscles

specialized transduction cells in FAI mechanoreceptors; important for perceiving change in sensation

Pacinian corpuscles

specialized transduction cells in FAII mechanoreceptors; important for detecting fine texture

Small receptive fields have better __________, and vice versa.

spatial resolution

Proprioception

the perception of the movements and position of our limbs

Muscle spindles

receptors embedded in the muscles that sense information about muscle length and therefore muscle action

Joint receptors

receptors found in each joint that sense information about the angle of the joint

Golgi tendon organs

receptors in the tendons that measure the force of a muscle’s contraction

Afferent fibers

neural fibers that carry sensory information to the central nervous system

Thermoreception

the ability to sense changes in temperature on the skin

Thermoreceptors

the sensory receptors in the skin that signal information about the temperature as measured on the skin

Cold fibers

thermoreceptors that fire in response to colder (30 C and below) skin temperatures

Warm fibers

thermoreceptors that fire in response to warmer (36 C and above) skin temperature

Thermoreceptors respond to temperatures between _______ and _________

17 C and 43 C

Pain

the perception and unpleasant experience of actual or threatened tissue damage

Nociceptive pain

pain that develops from tissue damage that causes nociceptors in the skin to fire

Nociceptors

sensory receptors in that skin that, when activated, cause us to feel pain

A-delta fibers

myelinated nociceptors that conduct signals rapidly and respond to both heat and pressure

C-fibers

non-myelinated nociceptors that are slower and respond to pressure, extreme degrees of either heat or cold, and toxic chemicals

Dorsal root ganglion

a node on the spine where one finds nerve cells carrying signals from sensory organs toward the somatosensory areas of the brain

Dorsal root

the end of the spinal nerve where sensory information enters the spinal cord

Ventral root

the end of the spinal cord where motor information leaves the spinal cord

Dorsal

in or toward the back (back, booty) of the body; in the head, it means at the top or toward the top

Ventral

in or toward the front (stomach, chest) of the body; in the head, it means at the bottom or toward the bottom

Dorsal Column-Medial Leminscal Pathway

a pathway for the mechanoreceptors (tactile perception) and proprioception (muscle position) that travels up the spinal column on the ipsilateral side and crosses to the contralateral side in the medulla

Ipsilateral

“same” (ipsi); sensory information is on the same side of the nervous system as it entered

Contralateral

opposite (contra); sensory information is on the opposite side of the nervous system as it entered

The neural signal from mechanoreceptors travels ___________ up the dorsal spinal column.

ipsilaterally

The neural signal from mechanoreceptors then crosses over __________ in the __________.

contralaterally; medulla

The neural signal ascends the brain from the medulla through the ______________.

medial lemniscus

After synapsing in the medulla, it travels to the ____________ of the thalamus, and then ends in the ________________.

ventral posterior nucleus; somatosensory cortex