The specificity of neural responses to music and their relation to voice processing: An fMRI-adaptation study

• We investigated neural specificity of brain responses to musical stimuli.
• Modality-specific adaptation occurs in visual and auditory cortical regions.
• Music elicits stronger responses than voice in the anterior superior temporal gyrus.
• A region in anterior superior temporal gyrus displays music-specific adaptation.
• Our findings support the existence of music-preferred neurons.

Several studies have identified, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a region within the superior temporal gyrus that preferentially responds to musical stimuli. However, in most cases, significant responses to other complex stimuli, particularly human voice, were also observed. Thus, it remains unknown if the same neurons respond to both stimulus types, albeit with different strengths, or whether the responses observed with fMRI are generated by distinct, overlapping neural populations. To address this question, we conducted an fMRI experiment in which short music excerpts and human vocalizations were presented in a pseudo-random order. Critically, we performed an adaptation-based analysis in which responses to the stimuli were analyzed taking into account the category of the preceding stimulus. Our results confirm the presence of a region in the anterior STG that responds more strongly to music than voice. Moreover, we found a music-specific adaptation effect in this area, consistent with the existence of music-preferred neurons. Lack of differences between musicians and non-musicians argues against an expertise effect. These findings provide further support for neural separability between music and speech within the temporal lobe.