Auditory-motor Task Research Articles

Randomized controlled trial of neurologic music therapy in Parkinson\u2019s disease: research rehabilitation protocols for mechanistic and clinical investigations

BackgroundPresently available medications and surgical treatments for Parkinson’s disease have limited effects on fine motor problems and often leave patients with significant fine motor disability. Standard of care occupational therapy (OT) yields low efficacy, potentially due to a lack of standard protocols. Neurologic music therapy (NMT) techniques, especially rhythmic auditory stimulation which relies on interaction between rhythm and movement, have shown to be effective in PD gait rehabilitation possibly through their reliance on neural pathways that are not affected by PD. Therapeutic instrumental music performance (TIMP) is one other NMT technique that holds promise but which mode of action and efficacy has not been investigated in PD yet.MethodsOne hundred PD participants will be randomly assigned to receive 15 sessions of either TIMP with rhythm or TIMP without rhythm, standard of care OT, or to be waitlisted (control) over 5 consecutive weeks. Brain oscillatory responses will be collected using magnetoencephalography during an auditory-motor task to understand the underlying mechanisms. The Grooved Pegboard, the UPDRS III finger tap, and the finger-thumb opposition will be assessed to investigate clinical changes related to fine motor function. This project will also serve to confirm or refute our pilot data findings suggesting NMT relies on compensatory brain networks utilized by the PD brain to bypass the dysfunctional basal ganglia.DiscussionThis study aims to use standardized TIMP and OT research protocols for investigating the neuronal pathways utilized by each intervention and possibly study their efficacy with respect to fine motor rehabilitation via a randomized control trial in the PD population.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03049033. Registered on September 29, 2020

Monkeying with the piano

Neuroscience The anatomical organization of auditory cortical pathways in nonhuman primates (NHPs) shows remarkable similarities with humans. So why don't NHPs have a more speech-like communication system? Archakov et al. trained macaques to perform an auditory-motor task using a purpose-built piano. Mapping brain activity by functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that sound sequences activated the auditory midbrain and cortex. More importantly, sound sequences that had been learned by self-production also activated motor cortex and basal ganglia. This shows that monkeys can form auditory-motor links and that this is not the reason why they do not speak. Instead, the origin of speech in humans may have required the evolution of a command apparatus that controls the upper vocal tract. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117 , 15242 (2020).

Auditory representation of learned sound sequences in motor regions of the macaque brain

Human speech production requires the ability to couple motor actions with their auditory consequences. Nonhuman primates might not have speech because they lack this ability. To address this question, we trained macaques to perform an auditory-motor task producing sound sequences via hand presses on a newly designed device ("monkey piano"). Catch trials were interspersed to ascertain the monkeys were listening to the sounds they produced. Functional MRI was then used to map brain activity while the animals listened attentively to the sound sequences they had learned to produce and to two control sequences, which were either completely unfamiliar or familiar through passive exposure only. All sounds activated auditory midbrain and cortex, but listening to the sequences that were learned by self-production additionally activated the putamen and the hand and arm regions of motor cortex. These results indicate that, in principle, monkeys are capable of forming internal models linking sound perception and production in motor regions of the brain, so this ability is not special to speech in humans. However, the coupling of sounds and actions in nonhuman primates (and the availability of an internal model supporting it) seems not to extend to the upper vocal tract, that is, the supralaryngeal articulators, which are key for the production of speech sounds in humans. The origin of speech may have required the evolution of a "command apparatus" similar to the control of the hand, which was crucial for the evolution of tool use.

Musical training enhances temporal adaptation of auditory-motor synchronization.

To coordinate their actions successfully with auditory events, individuals must be able to adapt their behaviour flexibly to environmental changes. Previous work has shown that musical training enhances the flexibility to synchronize behaviour with a wide range of stimulus periods. The current experiment investigated whether musical training enhances temporal adaptation to period perturbations as listeners tapped with a metronome, and whether this enhancement is specific to individuals' Spontaneous Production Rates (SPRs; individuals' natural uncued rates). Both musicians and nonmusicians adapted more quickly to period perturbations that slowed down than to those that sped up. Importantly, musicians adapted more quickly to all period perturbations than nonmusicians. Fits of a damped harmonic oscillator model to the tapping measures confirmed musicians' faster adaptation and greater responsiveness to period perturbations. These results suggest that, even when the task is tailored to individual SPRs, musical training increases the flexibility with which individuals can adapt to changes in their environment during auditory-motor tasks.

P56-F Auditory-motor task triggers gamma and beta oscillations in patients with schizophrenia and auditory verbal hallucinations

Background In a study with intracranial recordings, auditory-verbal stimuli elicited augmented gamma-oscillations in the posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus, whereas hand-motor responses elicited gamma-augmentation in the pre- and postcentral gyri (Nagasawa et al., 2010). We aimed to investigate if motor cortical activation (MCA) during an auditory-motor (AM) task is affected by laterality of hand motor responses in healthy subjects (HS) and in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). Methods Eight HS and ten patients were asked to press a button using the thumb of both hands independently, during two sessions of 3 min. Each session contained 40 trials; 20 auditory-verbal commands saying “Press” and 20 commands saying “Do not press” (Nagasawa et al., 2010). MCA analysis epochs had duration of 500 ms following the button “press”. We used high-density 256 EEG ANT Neuro. Here we show preliminary results of MCA in HS and AVH patients using power spectral density (PSD) and topographical frequency maps including both hands sensory-motor regions. Results The preliminary data show that the laterality of the cortical activation related to the AM task may not be affected to a large degree by the motor reaction. Resting state EEG and AM task brain maps showed fragmented EEG topography in patients with schizophrenia for all analyzed band frequencies. Conclusions With this method we were able to trigger high beta and gamma bands activity in regions related to sensory-motor cortex. The topography of these frequencies remained stable when the participant used the right or the left hand.

Spatial Heterogeneity of Cortical Excitability in Migraine Revealed by Multifrequency Neuromagnetic Signals.

To investigate the spatial heterogeneity of cortical excitability in adolescents with migraine, magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings at a sampling rate of 6,000Hz were obtained from 35 adolescents with an acute migraine and 35 age- and sex-matched healthy control participants during an auditory-motor task. Neuromagnetic activation from low- to high-frequency ranges (5-1,000Hz) was measured at sensor and source levels. The heterogeneity of cortical excitability was quantified within each functional modality (auditory vs motor) and hemispherical lateralization. MEG data showed that high-frequency, not low-frequency neuromagnetic signals, showed heterogeneous cortical activation in migraine subjects compared with control participants (P<.001). The alteration of the heterogeneity of cortical excitability in migraine subjects was independent of age and sex. The degree of the neuromagnetic heterogeneity of cortical activation was significantly correlated with headache frequency (r=.71, P<.005). The alteration of cortical excitability in migraine subjects was spatially heterogeneous and frequency dependent, which previously has not been reported. The finding may be critical for developing spatially targeted therapeutic strategies for normalizing cortical excitability with the purpose of reducing headache attacks. This article presents a new approach to quantitatively measure the spatial heterogeneity of cortical excitability in adolescents with migraine using MEG signals in a frequency range of 5 to 1,000Hz. The characteristics of the location and degree of cortical excitability may be critical for spatially targeted treatment for migraine.

Cortical Dynamic Causality Network for Auditory-Motor Tasks

Motor preparation and execution require the interactions of a large-scale brain network, while the study of the dynamic changes of their interactions could uncover the underlying neural mechanism of the corresponding information processing. This dynamic analysis requires high temporal resolution of the recorded signals. Electroencephalogram (EEG) with high temporal resolution has been widely used in related studies. However, studies based on scalp EEG always lead to distorted results, due to scalp volume conduction, compared with that of cortically recorded signals. In the current study, the dynamic networks of motor preparation and execution are investigated using Go/No-go tasks performed with the left/right hand. In the analysis, the EEG source localization and dynamic causal model are combined together to investigate the neural processes of motor preparation and execution. The results show that similar network patterns with nodes distributed in the bilateral occipital lobe, bilateral temporal lobe, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and contralateral supplementary motor area could be revealed for both the Go and No-go tasks. Statistical testing further indicates that stronger couplings with the supplementary motor area could be found in Go and right-hand response tasks compared with No-go and left-hand response tasks, respectively. The findings in the current study demonstrate that the information exchange within the motor related brain networks plays an important role for motor related functions, i.e., the different motor functions may have the different information exchange and processing network patterns.

A geometric correction scheme for spatial leakage effects in MEG/EEG seed-based functional connectivity mapping.

Spatial leakage effects are particularly confounding for seed-based investigations of brain networks using source-level electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG). Various methods designed to avoid this issue have been introduced but are limited to particular assumptions about its temporal characteristics. Here, we investigate the usefulness of a model-based geometric correction scheme (GCS) to suppress spatial leakage emanating from the seed location. We analyze its properties theoretically and then assess potential advantages and limitations with simulated and experimental MEG data (resting state and auditory-motor task). To do so, we apply Minimum Norm Estimation (MNE) for source reconstruction and use variation of error parameters, statistical gauging of spatial leakage correction and comparison with signal orthogonalization. Results show that the GCS has a local (i.e., near the seed) effect only, in line with the geometry of MNE spatial leakage, and is able to map spatially all types of brain interactions, including linear correlations eliminated after signal orthogonalization. Furthermore, it is robust against the introduction of forward model errors. On the other hand, the GCS can be affected by local overcorrection effects and seed mislocation. These issues arise with signal orthogonalization too, although significantly less extensively, so the two approaches complement each other. The GCS thus appears to be a valuable addition to the spatial leakage correction toolkits for seed-based FC analyses in source-projected MEG/EEG data.

Increased sensitivity of fast BOLD fMRI with a subject-specific hemodynamic response function and application to epilepsy

Activation detection in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) typically assumes the hemodynamic response to neuronal activity to be invariant across brain regions and subjects. Reports of substantial variability of the morphology of blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) responses are accumulating, suggesting that the use of a single generic model of the expected response in general linear model (GLM) analyses does not provide optimal sensitivity due to model misspecification. Relaxing assumptions of the model can limit the impact of hemodynamic response function (HRF) variability, but at a cost on model parsimony. Alternatively, better specification of the model could be obtained from a priori knowledge of the HRF of a given subject, but the effectiveness of this approach has only been tested on simulation data. Using fast BOLD fMRI, we characterized the variability of hemodynamic responses to a simple event-related auditory-motor task, as well as its effect on activation detection with GLM analyses. We show the variability to be higher between subjects than between regions and variation in different regions to correlate from one subject to the other. Accounting for subject-related variability by deriving subject-specific models from responses to the task in some regions lead to more sensitive detection of responses in other regions. We applied the approach to epilepsy patients, where task-derived patient-specific models provided additional information compared to the use of a generic model for the detection of BOLD responses to epileptiform activity identified on scalp electro-encephalogram (EEG). This work highlights the importance of improving the accuracy of the model for detecting neuronal activation with fMRI, and the fact that it can be done at no cost to model parsimony through the acquisition of independent a priori information about the hemodynamic response.

Visuo-somatosensory reorganization in perceptual adaptation to reversed vision

Humans can adapt to reversal of the visual field after long-term wear of reversing prism spectacles. Among various aspects of adaptation to reversed vision, adjustment of visually-guided behavior has been consistently found. On the other hand, there is relatively little quantitative evidence for ‘perceptual adaptation’, for example, restoration of perceptual harmony between the visual and tactile world. To elucidate perceptual adaptation to reversed vision, we conducted long-term experiments with continuous wear of reversing spectacles. Four human adult participants wore left–right reversing spectacles for 37 or 32days. Perceptual adaptation was examined by spatial left–right judgment tasks for visual, auditory, and somatosensory stimuli. In the visuo-motor (VM) and somato-visual (SV) tasks, correct responses disappeared completely at the beginning of prism wearing, but gradually restored, first in the VM task, and subsequently in the SV task. Moreover, the VM and SV tasks revealed aftereffects (incorrect responses) upon removal of the reversing prisms after the long adaptation period. In the auditory-motor (AM) task, responses were mostly correct irrespective of the reversed vision, but incorrect responses transiently appeared approximately when the adaptive change was first observed in the SV task. Moreover, starting from the period when these changes in the SV and AM tasks emerged, an adaptive sign of interhemispheric interaction was revealed by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. These results indicate that perceptual adaptation to reversed vision does occur, and that it proceeds to visuo-somatosensory reorganization, which seems to transiently accompany global cross-modal interactions.

Antipsychotic dose and diminished neural modulation: A multi-site fMRI study

The effect of antipsychotics on the blood oxygen level dependent signal in schizophrenia is poorly understood. The purpose of the present investigation is to examine the effect of antipsychotic medication on independent neural networks during a motor task in a large, multi-site functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation. Seventy-nine medicated patients with schizophrenia and 114 comparison subjects from the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium database completed a paced, auditory motor task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Independent component analysis identified temporally cohesive but spatially distributed neural networks. The independent component analysis time course was regressed with a model time course of the experimental design. The resulting beta weights were evaluated for group comparisons and correlations with chlorpromazine equivalents. Group differences between patients and comparison subjects were evident in the cortical and subcortical motor networks, default mode networks, and attentional networks. The chlorpromazine equivalents correlated with the unimotor/bitemporal (rho=-0.32, P=0.0039), motor/caudate (rho=-0.22, P=0.046), posterior default mode (rho=0.26, P=0.020), and anterior default mode networks (rho=0.24, P=0.03). Patients on typical antipsychotics also had less positive modulation of the motor/caudate network relative to patients on atypical antipsychotics (t(77)=2.01, P=0.048). The results suggest that antipsychotic dose diminishes neural activation in motor (cortical and subcortical) and default mode networks in patients with schizophrenia. The higher potency, typical antipsychotics also diminish positive modulation in subcortical motor networks. Antipsychotics may be a potential confound limiting interpretation of fMRI studies on the disease process in medicated patients with schizophrenia.

Auditory Motor Integration in Oral and Manual Effectors

ABSTRACT Sensorimotor integration of auditory feedback for oral and manual force control was compared in 10 healthy participants. Based on the notion that auditory-to-motor integration is a more typical form of feedback for oral articulators given their role in speech and singing, it was predicted that oral force generation would be more accurate and less variable on an auditory-motor task compared to manual force generation. However, finger force production showed similar accuracy and lower variability than lip force production. The authors propose that auditory feedback can be used for fine force control of both oral and manual effectors. Differences in performance are considered to arise from physiological differences between the effectors that are reflected in their typical functions. This novel study of oral and manual force control under auditory feedback is an important step in understanding how auditory information can be associated with fine force control.

Cortical gamma‐oscillations modulated by auditory–motor tasks‐intracranial recording in patients with epilepsy

Human activities often involve hand-motor responses following external auditory-verbal commands. It has been believed that hand movements are predominantly driven by the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex, whereas auditory-verbal information is processed in both superior temporal gyri. It remains unknown whether cortical activation in the superior temporal gyrus during an auditory-motor task is affected by laterality of hand-motor responses. Here, event-related γ-oscillations were intracranially recorded as quantitative measures of cortical activation; we determined how cortical structures were activated by auditory-cued movement using each hand in 15 patients with focal epilepsy. Auditory-verbal stimuli elicited augmentation of γ-oscillations in a posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus, whereas hand-motor responses elicited γ-augmentation in the pre- and postcentral gyri. The magnitudes of such γ-augmentation in the superior temporal, precentral, and postcentral gyri were significantly larger when the hand contralateral to the recorded hemisphere was required to be used for motor responses, compared with when the ipsilateral hand was. The superior temporal gyrus in each hemisphere might play a greater pivotal role when the contralateral hand needs to be used for motor responses, compared with when the ipsilateral hand does.

The effects of an interactive cognitive task (ICT) in suppressing fatigue symptoms in driving

Abstract Background Prolonged drive on inter-urban, monotonous roads has the potential of causing a decrease in the general level of arousal leading to a state of underload and fatigue. This study examines the effectiveness of an interactive cognitive task (ICT) in delaying fatigue symptoms induced by underload conditions. The ICT is an auditory-motor task which is based on the basic principles of a knowledge game known as “Trivia”. Method Ten participants took part in two experimental sessions of 140 min drive in a fixed-base simulator. In a within-subject counterbalanced design one session consisted of driving without ICT and the other included ICT operation. In the ICT session the game was activated after 60 min of driving. Results When activated, the ICT increased physiological indicators of arousal, increased subjective feelings of alertness, and improved driving performance. The physiological and driving performance measures revealed that the ICT activation had an immediate but localized influence on arousal. Post-drive questionnaires showed that in the ICT condition, the participants’ level of motivation increased and their feelings of sleepiness decreased. Conclusions Engaging in cognitive tasks can counteract the effects of underload and increases driving safety as long as they are active. However, additional research is necessary to determine the effects of long term use.

Phonatory and nonphonatory motor control in singers

<h2>Summary</h2> Previous investigations of singers' ability to match tones accurately and rapidly have implied that this group of performers may be specially endowed with auditory-motor systems that predispose him or her to aspire as a singer. The purpose of this study was to measure the performance of singers on an auditory-motor task and to compare it with performance on a visuomotor task. Singers and nonsingers matched randomly presented auditory pure tones between the 30 and 60% points of their phonational ranges. In addition, the subjects pursued a visually presented static stimulus by rotating their wrist. The results indicate that the singers were more stable once they reached the target on the auditory-motor task. Singers were also less variable on the auditory-motor task compared with nonsingers. The two groups were not different from each other on the visuomotor task. The data also revealed that singers achieve pitch targets more efficiently than do nonsingers but the two groups achieve wrist targets with comparable efficiency. The data suggest that singers do not have uniformly endowed sensorimotor systems; however, they are capable of performing with greater motor stability, consistency, and efficiency using laryngeal/phonatory motor subsystems than with manual (wrist flexion) subsystems.