Abstract
Some 20 years ago Todd and colleagues proposed that rhythm perception is mediated by the conjunction of a sensory representation of the auditory input and a motor representation of the body (Todd, 1994a, 1995), and that a sense of motion from sound is mediated by the vestibular system (Todd, 1992a, 1993b). These ideas were developed into a sensory-motor theory of rhythm and beat induction (Todd et al., 1999). A neurological substrate was proposed which might form the biological basis of the theory (Todd et al., 2002). The theory was implemented as a computational model and a number of experiments conducted to test it. In the following time there have been several key developments. One is the demonstration that the vestibular system is primal to rhythm perception, and in related work several experiments have provided further evidence that rhythm perception is body dependent. Another is independent advances in imaging, which have revealed the brain areas associated with both vestibular processing and rhythm perception. A third is the finding that vestibular receptors contribute to auditory evoked potentials (Todd et al., 2014a,b). These behavioral and neurobiological developments demand a theoretical overview which could provide a new synthesis over the domain of rhythm perception. In this paper we suggest four propositions as the basis for such a synthesis. (1) Rhythm perception is a form of vestibular perception; (2) Rhythm perception evokes both external and internal guidance of somatotopic representations; (3) A link from the limbic system to the internal guidance pathway mediates the “dance habit”; (4) The vestibular reward mechanism is innate. The new synthesis provides an explanation for a number of phenomena not often considered by rhythm researchers. We discuss these along with possible computational implementations and alternative models and propose a number of new directions for future research.
Highlights
Some 20 years ago Todd and colleagues proposed that rhythm perception is mediated by the conjunction of a sensory representation of the auditory input and a motor representation of the body (Todd, 1994a, 1995), and that a sense of motion from sound is mediated by the vestibular system (Todd, 1992a, 1993b)
Proponents of dynamical systems theory (DST) argue that a motor component is implicit in their descriptions, which as we argued above is necessary for beat induction according to the sensory-motor theory
A second principle which emerges is that areas within the rhythm/vestibular sensory-motor network can be divided into two subnets, one which is externally referenced, i.e., Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG), hippocampus, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), cerebellum and Premotor Cortex (PMC), and a second set which are internally referenced, i.e., precuneus, supplementary motor area (SMA)/cingulate motor area (CMA), cingulate cortex, basal ganglia, and anterior insula
Summary
The Sensory-motor Theory Emerges The invention of the analog AM spectrometer or rhythm analyser was a useful step in enabling the visualization of motion/rhythm structure from sound and in formulating for the first time the precise specification of the parameters involved in carrying out such an analysis It raised a number of issues and problems. The second fundamental issue which arose from the original modulation spectrometer was that in order to account for beat detection it was clear that a band-pass filter-bank was not sufficient on its own since temporal intervals were represented in the form of a harmonic series, and there was no apriori way FIGURE 2 | (A) A reproduction of Figure 16 from Todd (1994a) illustrating the scheme for computing a modulation spectrum in both pitch and rhythm frequency ranges and in parallel both low-pass and band-pass representations. They interpreted the potentials as being consistent with the operation of two distinct sensory-motor circuits: (1) an automatic, internally driven circuit involving supplementary motor area (SMA) for which the N2 may be a manifestation, and (2) an attention dependent, externally driven circuit involving posterior parietal cortex (PPC) for which the N3 may be a manifestation
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