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Congenital amusia is characterized by lifelong impairments in music perception and processing. It is unclear whether pitch detection deficits impact amusic individuals' perception of musical emotion. In the current work, 19 amusics and 21 healthy controls were subjected to electroencephalography (EEG) while being exposed to music excerpts and emotional faces. We assessed each individual's ability to discriminate positive- and negative-valenced emotional faces and analyzed electrophysiological indices, in the form of event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded at 32 sites, following exposure to emotionally positive or negative music excerpts. We observed smaller N2 amplitudes in response to facial expressions in the amusia group than in the control group, suggesting that amusics were less affected by the musical stimuli. The late-positive component (LPC) in amusics was similar to that in controls. Our results suggest that the neurocognitive deficit characteristic of congenital amusia is fundamentally an impairment in musical information processing rather than an impairment in emotional processing.

Sensitivity to music reward varies across individuals. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) is an effective tool in the assessment of sensitivity to music reward. The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the BMRQ, including its internal consistency, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and measurement invariance across gender. In addition, the relationship between personality traits and sensitivity to music reward was explored. A total of 1,120 Chinese undergraduate students completed a pen-and-paper version of the BMRQ, either in individual sessions or in class groups. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the revised model of the BMRQ. In addition, good internal consistency reliability of the overall scale and criterion-related validity with the BIS/BAS scale were also supported in this study. Evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance supported its measurement invariance across gender. On this basis, women in our sample reported themselves more sensitive than men to music reward. Results also showed that the personality traits Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were the strongest contributors to music reward sensitivity, while Extraversion did not make a significant contribution. These findings may provide a reference point for therapists wishing to predict the efficacy of music therapy for individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]