MEG and EEG Responses to a Pitch Naming and Identification Task: Slow DC Shift Predicts Performance.

Damasio [1] has proposed that long-term memory storage relies on neural populations located in cortical regions responsible for perceptual processing. Memory occurs when primary and first-order sensory association areas are reactivated through conscious effort. Evidence in support of this position has recently been obtained in the visual modality [2]. In the auditory domain, there exits a population of individuals who, through extensive practice, have developed a unique long-term memory skill. Musicians who possess the skill of absolute pitch can name notes of specific frequency according to Western musical notation without reference. If Damasio’s theory is correct, we would expect that individuals with absolute pitch would utilize neural generators normally reserved for sensory encoding for long-term memory storage of pitch information. The supratemporal cortex seems a likely cortical region for such processing. Also, in order to provide linguistic labels to specific frequency information, it is suspected that other neural generators may be involved. Recent MRI evidence suggests absolute pitch musicians have an enlarged left planum temporale [3]. Thus, both supratemporal cortex and left side planum temporale are hypothesized to play a role in absolute pitch processing.