The amusic brain : lost in music, but not in space

Barbara Tillmann; Pierre Jolicoeur; Masami Ishihara; Nathalie Gosselin; Olivier Bertrand; Yves Rossetti; Isabelle Peretz

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010173

The amusic brain : lost in music, but not in space

Barbara Tillmann, Pierre Jolicoeur, Masami Ishihara, Nathalie Gosselin, Olivier Bertrand, Yves Rossetti, Isabelle Peretz

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of music processing that is currently ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. A recent study challenges this view and claims the disorder might arise as a consequence of a general spatial-processing deficit. Here, we assessed spatial processing abilities in two independent samples of individuals with congenital amusia by using line bisection tasks (Experiment 1) and a mental rotation task (Experiment 2). Both amusics and controls showed the classical spatial effects on bisection performance and on mental rotation performance, and amusics and controls did not differ from each other. These results indicate that the neurocognitive impairment of congenital amusia does not affect the processing of space.

Original language	English
Article number	e10173
Number of pages	6
Journal	PLoS One
Volume	5
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010173
Publication status	Published - 2010

Open Access - Access Right Statement

Copyright: 2010 Tillmann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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abstract = "Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of music processing that is currently ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. A recent study challenges this view and claims the disorder might arise as a consequence of a general spatial-processing deficit. Here, we assessed spatial processing abilities in two independent samples of individuals with congenital amusia by using line bisection tasks (Experiment 1) and a mental rotation task (Experiment 2). Both amusics and controls showed the classical spatial effects on bisection performance and on mental rotation performance, and amusics and controls did not differ from each other. These results indicate that the neurocognitive impairment of congenital amusia does not affect the processing of space.",

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AU - Tillmann, Barbara

AU - Jolicoeur, Pierre

AU - Ishihara, Masami

AU - Gosselin, Nathalie

AU - Bertrand, Olivier

AU - Rossetti, Yves

AU - Peretz, Isabelle

PY - 2010

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N2 - Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of music processing that is currently ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. A recent study challenges this view and claims the disorder might arise as a consequence of a general spatial-processing deficit. Here, we assessed spatial processing abilities in two independent samples of individuals with congenital amusia by using line bisection tasks (Experiment 1) and a mental rotation task (Experiment 2). Both amusics and controls showed the classical spatial effects on bisection performance and on mental rotation performance, and amusics and controls did not differ from each other. These results indicate that the neurocognitive impairment of congenital amusia does not affect the processing of space.

AB - Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder of music processing that is currently ascribed to a deficit in pitch processing. A recent study challenges this view and claims the disorder might arise as a consequence of a general spatial-processing deficit. Here, we assessed spatial processing abilities in two independent samples of individuals with congenital amusia by using line bisection tasks (Experiment 1) and a mental rotation task (Experiment 2). Both amusics and controls showed the classical spatial effects on bisection performance and on mental rotation performance, and amusics and controls did not differ from each other. These results indicate that the neurocognitive impairment of congenital amusia does not affect the processing of space.

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IS - 4

M1 - e10173

ER -

The amusic brain : lost in music, but not in space

Abstract

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