Distributed neural systems for musical time processing

Abstract

My talk will feature recent MEG and EEG studies for examining time processing, and, together with other findings, discuss how distributed neural systems for musical time work together in managing top-down and bottom-up prediction, ensemble coordination, and learning-induced neuroplasticity. It has been long known that passive listening of metronome-like isochronous stimuli involves auditory cortices for simple prediction of the stimulus interval and detection of changes. Recently, however, more studies are aimed at capturing natural neural dynamics that encode or predict time without such "perturbation" approach. We show that in addition to auditory cortices, various motor-related brain areas contribute to neural oscillatory power modulations in listening to isochronous stimulus, and that beta-band frequency of this modulation may explain benefits of auditory-sensorimotor training in clinical populations with movement impairments. Moreover, modulation patterns can encode stimulus intervals, metric hierarchies in perception and imagery, as well as anticipation of upcoming tempo change (e.g., accelerando and ritardando). Listening paradigm is also used to show neuroplastic changes in naïve subjects after short-term piano training in the reward-related systems. Of further interest is frontal lobe's contribution to musical ensemble coordination sensitive to player's role asymmetry and agency (e.g., human vs. computer).