Rate-specific Entrainment of Harmonic Pitch

Abstract

Recent evidence indicates that synchronized brain oscillations in the low gamma range (∼33 Hz) are involved in the perceptual integration of harmonic complex tones. At this rate, reaction times (RTs) are faster to targets that are not harmonically related to the prime. In the current study, we investigated the presence of this rate-specific inharmonic pop-out in groups of musicians and nonmusicians. We found that rather than increasing the salience of inharmonic targets, 33-pps priming reduced the salience of harmonic targets. This effect was observed in nonmusicians only, suggesting that music training reduces the role of oscillatory coding mechanisms in the perceptual integration of harmonic information.