Abstract
Our sense of rhythm relies on orchestrated activity of several cerebral and cerebellar structures. Although functional connectivity studies have advanced our understanding of rhythm perception, this phenomenon has not been sufficiently studied as a function of musical training and beyond the General Linear Model (GLM) approach. Here, we studied pulse clarity processing during naturalistic music listening using a data-driven approach (independent component analysis; ICA). Participants' (18 musicians and 18 controls) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses were acquired while listening to music. A targeted region of interest (ROI) related to pulse clarity processing was defined, comprising auditory, somatomotor, basal ganglia, and cerebellar areas. The ICA decomposition was performed under different model orders, i.e., under a varying number of assumed independent sources, to avoid relying on prior model order assumptions. The components best predicted by a measure of the pulse clarity of the music, extracted computationally from the musical stimulus, were identified. Their corresponding spatial maps uncovered a network of auditory (perception) and motor (action) areas in an excitatory-inhibitory relationship at lower model orders, while mainly constrained to the auditory areas at higher model orders. Results revealed (a) a strengthened functional integration of action-perception networks associated with pulse clarity perception hidden from GLM analyses, and (b) group differences between musicians and non-musicians in pulse clarity processing, suggesting lifelong musical training as an important factor that may influence beat processing.
Highlights
Pulse may be defined as an endogenous periodicity, a series of regularly recurring, precisely equivalent psychological events that arise in response to a musical rhythm (Cooper and Meyer, 1960; Large and Snyder, 2009)
Pulse-clarity networks were highly consistent across model orders in terms of polarity and topography, with auditory areas [Heschl’s gyrus (HG), planum temporale (PT), and anterior and posterior superior temporal gyrus] and somatomotor (M1, S1, S2, supplementary motor area (SMA), premotor cortex (PMC), rolandic operculum (ROper)) and CER areas exhibiting an inverse relationship
The areas that were present in all independent components (ICs) were the auditory cortices, ROper and S2, whereas large somatomotor areas were observed only in lower model orders
Summary
Pulse may be defined as an endogenous periodicity, a series of regularly recurring, precisely equivalent psychological events that arise in response to a musical rhythm (Cooper and Meyer, 1960; Large and Snyder, 2009). Musical Pulse Processing and Musicianship in music. This phenomenon keeps challenging cognitive scientists, who pursue understanding of its underlying brain processes (Gabrielsson, 1987; Clarke, 1989; Palmer, 1989; Repp, 1990). This unique ability to perceive pulse allows us to coordinate motor movements to an external auditory stimulus (such as in music-induced foot tapping or dancing). Rhythm perception is fundamental to the experience of music and key for explaining musical behavior (Large and Palmer, 2002; Large and Snyder, 2009)
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