Music and language perception in epilepsy patients

Background. Language and music present numerous structural similarities. This suggests that both domains may be built on shared cognitive and neuroanatomical resources. Objectives. Here, discrepant results that either support or deny neurocognitive links between language and music are discussed. It is argued that the investigation of cognitive subprocesses and the consideration of neuropathology can reconcile the conflicting findings. Methods. Language-music links were tested in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) by means of electrocorticography (study I) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (study II), with specific focus on grammar processing and memory building. Results. Study I showed a co-localization of grammar processing in language and music in bilateral temporal lobes. Study II yielded an atypical segregation of text and melody in song memory in patients with left TLE. Conclusions. These results lend evidence for neurocognitive links between language and music. Yet, they demonstrate the importance to focus on cognitive subprocesses and to take the neurological health of participants into account.