Investigation of the Amplitude–Time Characteristics of the N200 and P600 Waves of Event-Related Potentials during Processing of the Distance of Tonal Modulation

Abstract

The characteristics of neurocognitive processes during the perception of tonal modulation by using the technique of event-related potentials (ERPs) have been studied. The study involved 20 volunteers (six men, the average age of the participants was 19.7 ± 2.3 years). All the participants were right-handed; none of them had a professional musical education. The participants were asked to listen to a series of harmonic progressions with tonal modulation to the subdominant (near modulation, replacement of one tone with respect to the beginning scale), to the ascending minor sixth (distant modulation, replacement of four tones with respect to the beginning scale) and to the triton (distant modulation, replacement of six tones with respect to the beginning scale). The set of stimuli also included zero-step modulation to establish a baseline for the modulating stimuli. The data showed that N200 was decreased when listening to harmonic progressions regardless of the degree of modulation. It was found that the amplitude of P600 increased in response to an increase in the tonal distance between the beginning and ending tonalities, i.e., in response to an increase in the degree of modulation. This suggests that the amplitude of P600 corresponds to the degree of violation of tonal expectations, which, in turn, is associated with an increase in the complexity of the mental reorientation of the tonal scheme from one tonality to another tonality.