Left Auditory Cortex Specialization for Vertical Harmonic Structure of Chords
Abstract: The representation of consonant and dissonant chords in the auditory cortex was investigated using low-noise functional magnetic resonance imaging and different experimental paradigms to separate the effects of vertical harmony from those of other musical features. The results revealed higher activation by consonant compared with dissonant chords in the left posterior auditory cortex, suggesting contributions of mechanisms of encoding the acoustical chord structure rather than mechanisms based on sequential integration of chords.
consonance dissonance harmony fmri