Clarify how the brain separates music from words
2020/02/27 Gallego Moya, Juanma - Kazetaria Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Neurologists have long known that each hemisphere of the human brain responds differently to musicians and words, but it was why this happens. According to researchers at McGill University (Canada), perception depends on the acoustic information present in the stimulus: the perception of words is based on the ability to process short temporary modulations. As for the perception of music, the most important thing is the spectrum of sounds. Scientists have recorded 100 phrases sung to capella and subsequently distorted the recordings in two sound dimensions, changing the spectrum and time. They have offered sounds to 49 people, asking that these recordings differentiate words and melodies. In the experiment they have interspersed English and French speakers. In both languages the same result has been given: in cases where time has been distorted, listeners have noticed the melody, but they have not understood the words. When they have distorted the spectrum the opposite has happened to them: they have understood the words but they have not perceived the melody to the sound.
While listening to these melodies, participants' brains have been taken magnetic resonance imaging, where it has been confirmed that speech is processed in the left auditory cortex and melody is processed in the right.
