Sustained cortical fields can be measured over long musical sequences.

Evidence

This paper describes a shorter version of the melody experiment with alternating tonic and melodic bars and an inter-sequence interval of about 1325 ms—modifications that make it possible to measure the sustained field (SF) generated during the tonic and melodic bars. As in the previous experiment, the magnitude of the TR to the first note of any sequence is enhanced by the abrupt onset of energy. The purpose of this second experiment was to determine (1) whether the TR to the first note of each sequence emanates from a different source than the TRs from the remaining notes of that sequence, and (2) whether the source of the SF is in auditory cortex or beyond. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4706

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the sustained field (SF), a longer-timescale cortical response measured over tonic and melodic bars, distinct from the transient response to individual notes.