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. 2014 May;28(3):429-435.
doi: 10.1037/neu0000051. Epub 2013 Dec 23.

Impaired naming of famous musical melodies is associated with left temporal polar damage

Amy M Belfi  1 , Daniel Tranel  2
Affiliations

Impaired naming of famous musical melodies is associated with left temporal polar damage

Amy M Belfi et al. Neuropsychology. 2014 May.

Abstract

Objective: Previous research has shown that damage to the left temporal pole (LTP) is associated with impaired retrieval of words for unique entities, including names of famous people and landmarks. However, it is not known whether retrieving names for famous melodies is associated with the LTP. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that damage to the LTP would be associated with impaired naming of famous musical melodies.

Method: A Melody Naming Test was administered to patients with LTP damage, brain damaged comparison (BDC) patients, and normal comparison participants (NC). The test included various well-known melodies (e.g., "Pop Goes the Weasel"). After hearing each melody, participants were asked to rate their familiarity with the melody and identify it by name.

Results: LTP patients named significantly fewer melodies than BDC and NC participants. Recognition of melodies did not differ significantly between groups.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that LTP supports retrieval of names for famous melodies. More broadly, these results extend support for the theoretical notion that LTP is important for retrieving proper names for unique concepts, irrespectively of stimulus modality or category.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lesion overlap map of patients with left temporal polar lesions. The left panel depicts a lateral view of the left hemisphere. The five panels to the right depict coronal cuts (a-e) through the left anterior temporal region. Images are shown in radiological convention, with the left hemisphere on the right. The color bar codes maximal lesion overlap, with “hotter” colors (red, yellow) representing higher numbers of lesion overlap.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Performance on recognition and naming for each group. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. The naming score for the LTP group was significantly lower than the naming scores for the BDC and NC groups, per one-way F(7,27) = 10.2, p < .001, η2 =.43. There was no significant group difference for the recognition score F(7,27) = .055, p = .947, η2 = .003.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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