Riia Milovanov Doctoral Student Department of English & Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience University of Turku FINLAND riia.milovanov@utu.fi tel. +358 2 333 6692 fax. +358 2 333 5630 CV

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Ph D Thesis: The neural basis of musical aptitude and linguistic skills Supervisors: Doc. M. Tervaniemi, Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki Prof. Emerita M. Gustafsson, Department of English, University of Turku Research Assistants: M. Köynnös, P. Savolainen, R.Tammisto Funded by Pythagoras Graduate School
	More pictures of the EEG-lab

Abstract:

When learning a new language, the differences between the phonetic systems of the target language and the native language often deteriorate performance in production and discrimination tasks of the target language. Näätänen (2001) suggested that proper neural models formed in the auditory cortex for the phonemes are a necessary prerequisite for the learning of the target language also in terms of pronunciation. Previously, a connection between the accuracy of cortical networks in representing musical sound pattern and the behaviorally determined musical aptitude was proposed (Tervaniemi et al. 1997). The cortical brain activity with phonetic and music stimuli in early adolescence and adulthood is under investigation in the present project. Moreover, the relationship between language skills and musical aptitude is investigated. Event-related potential recordings in a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm are used to determine whether the cortical networks in the musically talented subjects represent the important sound features more readily than other testees. In addition to this, music for special needs will be discussed: students with dyslexia seem to benefit from music.