The Neural Correlates of Temporal Structure in Music

Abstract

In this article, the author reviews studies on the neuroanatomical underpinnings of temporal structure in music. Music’s temporal structure has been studied using all the tools available to modern cognitive neu- roscience, including genetic models, neuroimaging, mathematical models, and lesion studies. Regions of the brain that attend to and track ongoing temporal structure in music are bilateral, unlike those that subserve temporal structure in speech, which are pre- dominantly left-lateralized. Musical structure pro- cessing appears to recruit networks in the prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, superior temporal poles, and cerebellum (including the cerebellar vermis). When the music is emotionally meaningful, activity extends to the ventral tagmental area, the nucleus accumbens, and the hypothalamus. The author concludes with a discussion of what remains to be addressed in this rapidly growing field as well as the challenges to be faced.