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Bucknell University

Melodies

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Full-Text Articles in Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Mental Reversal Of Imagined Melodies: A Role For The Posterior Parietal Cortex, R.J. Zatorre, Andrea Halpern, M. Bouffard Jan 2010

Mental Reversal Of Imagined Melodies: A Role For The Posterior Parietal Cortex, R.J. Zatorre, Andrea Halpern, M. Bouffard

Faculty Journal Articles

Two fMRI experiments explored the neural substrates of a musical imagery task that required manipulation of the imagined sounds: temporal reversal of a melody. Musicians were presented with the first few notes of a familiar tune (Experiment 1) or its title (Experiment 2), followed by a string of notes that was either an exact or an inexact reversal. The task was to judge whether the second string was correct or not by mentally reversing all its notes, thus requiring both maintenance and manipulation of the represented string. Both experiments showed considerable activation of the superior parietal lobe (intraparietal sulcus) during …


Identification Of Speeded And Slowed Familiar Melodies By Younger, Middle-Aged, And Older Musicians And Nonmusicians, M.W. Andrews, W.J. Dowling, J.C. Bartlett, Andrea Halpern Jan 1998

Identification Of Speeded And Slowed Familiar Melodies By Younger, Middle-Aged, And Older Musicians And Nonmusicians, M.W. Andrews, W.J. Dowling, J.C. Bartlett, Andrea Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

There is a range of tempos within which listeners can identify familiar tunes (around 0.8 to 6.0 notes/s). Faster and slower tunes are difficult to identify. The authors assessed fast and slow melody-identification thresholds for 80 listeners ages 17–79 years with expertise varying from musically untrained to professional. On fast-to-slow (FS) trials the tune started at a very fast tempo and slowed until the listener identified it. Slow-to-fast (SF) trials started slow and accelerated. Tunes either retained their natural rhythms or were stylized isochronous versions. Increased expertise led to better performance for both FS and SF thresholds (r = .45). …