Musical semantics: Dimensions, processes, and neural correlates 103 by words, and even when primed by tones (none of the participants had received any professional musical training). That study (Griesner-Painter & Koelsch, 2011) also compared N400 effects between stimulus pairs that were pre-de ned by the ex-perimenters as related or unrelated, and stimulus pairs that were judged by the par-ticipants as related or unrelated. Although there was no statistically signi cant dif-ference between these two conditions, the N400 was visible much more clearly in the ERPs of sound targets when the ERPs were analyzed according to the ratings of each participant. It should also be noted that the effect size of all N400 effects was rather small; therefore, future studies should replicate those effects, preferably using larger numbers of trials, and subjects. Such studies should also aim to differentiate between different sign qualities of sounds.In summary, the mentioned studies show that musical information (musical ex-cerpts, single chords, and single tones), can systematically prime representations of meaningful concepts (as indicated on modulatory effects on the N400 elicited by words). Moreover, the studies show that musical excerpts, single chords, and single tones can elicit N400 effects that are modulated by the semantic t with a preceding word. The N400-effects are due to extra-musical meaning, that is, meaning emer-ging from musical information referring to the extra-musical world of concepts.Intramusical Meaning and the N5 The previous section dealt with extra-musical meaning and the N400. However, mu-sical meaning can also emerge from one musical element (or group of elements) pointing structurally to another musical element (or group of elements). That is, musical semantics extends beyond extra-musical sign qualities in that musical meaning can also emerge from the interpretation of intra-musical structural rela-tions, that is, from the structural reference of one musical element, or unit, to at least one other musical element, or unit (without reference to the extra-musical world).3 For example, in major-minor tonal music, intra-musical meaning can emerge from chord functions pointing to the harmonic context, and listeners interpreting the function of a chord (note that, in major, the chord functions tonic, subdominant and dominant are all major chords, it is only their structural relation that makes them a “tonic”, a “dominant”, etc.). Meyer (1956) used the term embodied meaning 4 , the term intra-musical was, to my knowledge, introduced later by Malcom Budd (1996). Nat-tiez (1990) has used the term intrinsic referring, which I do not use here, because “in-trinsic referring” refers to the referencing of one musical element to another; by con-trast, I use the term “intra-musical meaning” to emphasize that (non-conceptual) meaning emerges from such referencing, and that structural references have a 3 The German word for meaning is Bedeutung, and deuten has two meanings, namely to point (to some-thing), and to interpret.4 Note that the term “embodied” has nowadays a different meaning, often being associated with the role that the body plays for cognition and emotion.