Our brain can recognize familiar music within just 100-300 milliseconds (0.1-0.3 of a second), according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Jagiello et al used electroencephalography and pupillometry to reveal the temporal signatures of the brain processes that allow differentiation between a familiar, well liked, and unfamiliar piece of music. Image credit: Gordon Johnson.
The human auditory system shows a marked sensitivity to familiar music.
The concept of music familiarity heavily relies on long term memory traces, auditory mental imagery and is also linked to autobiographical memories, especially for emotionally relevant music.
Our prowess towards recognizing familiar musical tracks is anecdotally exemplified by ‘name that tune’ games, in which listeners of a radio station are asked to name the title of a song on the basis of a very short excerpt.
In the new study, Professor Maria Chait from the Ear Institute at University College London and her colleagues wanted to find out exactly how fast the brain responded to familiar music, as well as the temporal profile of processes in the brain which allow for this.
The main participant group consisted of five men and five women who had each provided five songs, which were very familiar to them.
For each participant the researchers then chose one of the familiar songs and matched this to a tune, which was similar (in tempo, melody, harmony, vocals and instrumentation) but which was known to be unfamiliar to the participant.
Participants then passively listened to 100 snippets (each less than a second) of both the familiar and unfamiliar song, presented in random order. Around 400 seconds was listened to in total.
The scientists used electroencephalography imaging, which records electrical activity in the brain, and pupillometry, a technique that measures pupil diameter — considered a measure of arousal.
They found the human brain recognized familiar tunes from 100 ms of sound onset, with the average recognition time between 100 and 300 ms.
This was first revealed by rapid pupil dilation, likely linked to increased arousal associated with the familiar sound, followed by cortical activation related to memory retrieval.
No such differences were found in a control group, compromising of international students who were unfamiliar with all the songs familiar and unfamiliar.
“Our results demonstrate that recognition of familiar music happens remarkably quickly,” Professor Chait said.
“These findings point to very fast temporal circuitry and are consistent with the deep hold that highly familiar pieces of music have on our memory.”
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Robert Jagiello et al. Rapid Brain Responses to Familiar vs. Unfamiliar Music – an EEG and Pupillometry study. Scientific Reports 9, article number: 15570; doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51759-9
