Effect of predicting familiar melodies on alpha power

Abstract

The processing of music and language share similar characteristics. Previous studies indicated that the similarity between language and melody was observed in event-related potentials to the deviation of a word and tone, respectively. We focused on a language study that demonstrated strong suppression of the alpha power in the presence of easily predictable words. Motivated by the physiological similarity between language and music, this study hypothesized that predictable music might suppress the alpha power. We measured electroencephalogram (EEG) signals while a melody followed by silence was presented for a participant who imagined the melody during the silent part of the music. The participants scored the melodys familiarity to quantify the ease of prediction and imagination. We observed similarity to language processing. For familiar melodies, alpha power suppression was observed in the left frontal and left central regions. Further, we observed Bereitschaftspotential (a negative slope) in both familiar and unfamiliar conditions before the silent interval. Moreover, a network analysis revealed that information flow from the right sensory-motor cortex to the right auditory cortex in the beta band was stronger for familiar music than for unfamiliar music. Considering the previous findings that motor preparation and execution suppress the alpha power in the left frontal and left central regions, the alpha band suppression under music prediction suggests a motor interaction during music processing in the prediction of melodies.