Analysis of music-brain interaction with simultaneous measurement of regional cerebral blood flow and electroencephalogram beta rhythm in human subjects

To elucidate the neural substrates of the receptive aspect of music, we mea sured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with positron emission tomography (PET) and simultaneously recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) in eight normal volunteers. Compared with the rest condition, listening to music cau sed a significant increase in EEG beta power spectrum (13-30 Hz) averaged o ver the posterior two third of the scalp. The averaged beta power spectrum was positively correlated with rCBF in the premotor cortex and adjacent pre frontal cortices bilaterally, the anterior portion of the precuneus and the anterior cingulate cortex in both the rest and the music conditions. Liste ning to music newly recruited the posterior portion of the precuneus bilate rally. This may reflect the interaction of the music with the cognitive pro cesses, such as music-evoked memory recall or visual imagery. (C) 1999 Else vier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.