Brain responsiveness to tonal and atonal chords: An EEG study

Based on the assumption that listening to tonality is better appreciated and preferred over atonality, this thesis study made use of theoretical and methodological tools of two different disciplines, biophysics and musicology, to observe the responses evoked in the brain in response to tonal and atonal chords. The elicited responses were evaluated not only in terms of the temporal properties of electrophysiological brain responses, but within an emotional framework via ethnographical interviews carried out at the end of the sessions. When results were evaluated in association to literature, the chords were concluded to elicit effects which lend support for the hypothesis. This study which investigates how theoretical assumptions in regard to tonality and atonality affect perception in the absence of priming, is one of the first of its kind in literature. In this thesis study on non-musician's perception of chords, tonal / atonal chord samples were randomly presented during simultaneous EEG recordings to a total of 38 healthy participants, 20 musicians and 18 non musicians aged between 19–45 years; the elicited brain responses were examined. In the interviews carried out following EEG recordings, the participants were asked to interpret the tonal and atonal chords they listened to. In order to investigate the effect of chords, the results of the interviews and brain responses obtained from EEG recordings were evaluated in regard to literature.