The Effects of Pitch Interval on Brainwave Amplitudes

Results of analyses from the electroencephalogram (EEG), recorded at the F8-T4 position on the scalp while testing the pitch discrimination ability of fourteen musically trained university students, showed that the EEG amplitude decreased as pitch intervals became smaller. There was no change in the EEG amplitude when comparison pitches were at intervals of a whole step higher or lower from the reference pitch, but change did occur when the interval was diminished to a quarter step. Within the forty-five-second period, during which the reference pitch was to be remembered, no difference was found between the EEG taken in the early seconds of testing as compared with the later part of the test span. Deviations in alpha, theta, and beta frequency bands were more prominent than those in the gamma and delta bands.