Tension experience is the basis for music emotion. In music, discrete elements are always organized into complex nested structures to convey emotion. However, the processing of music tension in the nested structure remains unknown. The present study investigated the tension experience induced by the nested structure and the underlying neural mechanisms, using a continuous tension rating task and electroencephalography (EEG) at the same time. Thirty musicians listened to music chorale sequences with non-nested, singly nested and doubly nested structures and were required to rate their real-time tension experience. Behavioral data indicated that the tension experience induced by the nested structure had more fluctuations than the non-nested structure, and the difference was mainly exhibited in the process of tension induction rather than tension resolution. However, the EEG data showed that larger late positive components (LPCs) were elicited by the ending chords in the nested structure compared with the non-nested structure, reflecting the difference in cognitive integration for long-distance structural dependence. The discrepancy between resolution experience and neural responses revealed the non-parallel relations between emotion and cognition. Furthermore, the LPC elicited by the doubly nested structure showed a smaller scalp distribution than the singly nested structure, indicating the more difficult processing of the doubly nested structure. These findings revealed the dynamic tension experience induced by the nested structure and the influence of nested type, shedding new light on the relationship between structure and tension in music.

中文翻译：

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音乐中嵌套结构诱发的紧张体验

张力体验是音乐情感的基础。在音乐中，离散元素总是被组织成复杂的嵌套结构来传达情感。然而，嵌套结构中音乐张力的处理仍然未知。本研究同时使用连续张力评级任务和脑电图 (EEG)，调查了由嵌套结构引起的张力体验和潜在的神经机制。30 位音乐家聆听了具有非嵌套、单嵌套和双嵌套结构的音乐合唱序列，并被要求对他们的实时紧张体验进行评分。行为数据表明嵌套结构引起的张力体验比非嵌套结构有更多的波动，差异主要表现在张力感应过程而不是张力分解过程。然而，脑电图数据显示，与非嵌套结构相比，嵌套结构中的结束和弦引发了更大的后期正成分（LPCs），反映了长距离结构依赖的认知整合差异。解决经验和神经反应之间的差异揭示了情绪和认知之间的非平行关系。此外，双嵌套结构引起的 LPC 显示出比单嵌套结构更小的头皮分布，表明双嵌套结构的处理更困难。这些发现揭示了嵌套结构引起的动态张力体验和嵌套类型的影响，