FMRI investigation of cross-modal interactions in beat perception: Audition primes vision, but not vice versa

Jessica A Grahn,Molly J Henry,J Devin Mcauley

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.09.033

Jessica A Grahn, Molly J Henry + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.09.033

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Abstract

How we measure time and integrate temporal cues from different sensory modalities are fundamental questions in neuroscience. Sensitivity to a “beat” (such as that routinely perceived in music) differs substantially between auditory and visual modalities. Here we examined beat sensitivity in each modality, and examined cross-modal influences, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize brain activity during perception of auditory and visual rhythms. In separate fMRI sessions, participants listened to auditory sequences or watched visual sequences. The order of auditory and visual sequence presentation was counterbalanced so that cross-modal order effects could be investigated. Participants judged whether sequences were speeding up or slowing down, and the pattern of tempo judgments was used to derive a measure of sensitivity to an implied beat. As expected, participants were less sensitive to an implied beat in visual sequences than in auditory sequences. However, visual sequences produced a stronger sense of beat when preceded by auditory sequences with identical temporal structure. Moreover, increases in brain activity were observed in the bilateral putamen for visual sequences preceded by auditory sequences when compared to visual sequences without prior auditory exposure. No such order-dependent differences (behavioral or neural) were found for the auditory sequences. The results provide further evidence for the role of the basal ganglia in internal generation of the beat and suggest that an internal auditory rhythm representation may be activated during visual rhythm perception.

Highlights

Understanding of how brains keep time is central to understanding many aspects of perceptual, cognitive and motor function
Tempo judgments in the current study revealed substantially greater beat sensitivity for auditory than for visual sequences, despite the identical temporal structure of stimulus sequences in both modalities
We suggest that exposure to auditory rhythms primes an internal representation of a beat, which can be exploited during visual performance to promote visual beat perception

Summary

Introduction

Understanding of how brains keep time is central to understanding many aspects of perceptual, cognitive and motor function. In this regard, it is notable that much perceptual information gleaned from the environment is modality-specific (i.e., exclusively conveyed through a single sense), temporal information, such as the duration of a stimulus or the temporal pattern of a series of stimuli, is amodal in nature (i.e., conveyed by more than one sense). One consideration that has influenced much research at the intersection of time perception and cross-modal processing is whether, despite the amodal nature of time, the auditory system may demonstrate a specialization (and priority).

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