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Graves KN, Sherman BE, Huberdeau D, Damisah E, Quraishi IH, Turk-Browne NB. Remembering the pattern: A longitudinal case study on statistical learning in spatial navigation and memory consolidation. Neuropsychologia 2022; 174:108341. [PMID: 35961387 PMCID: PMC9578695 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Revised: 07/10/2022] [Accepted: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
Distinct brain systems are thought to support statistical learning over different timescales. Regularities encountered during online perceptual experience can be acquired rapidly by the hippocampus. Further processing during offline consolidation can establish these regularities gradually in cortical regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). These mechanisms of statistical learning may be critical during spatial navigation, for which knowledge of the structure of an environment can facilitate future behavior. Rapid acquisition and prolonged retention of regularities have been investigated in isolation, but how they interact in the context of spatial navigation is unknown. We had the rare opportunity to study the brain systems underlying both rapid and gradual timescales of statistical learning using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) longitudinally in the same patient over a period of three weeks. As hypothesized, spatial patterns were represented in the hippocampus but not mPFC for up to one week after statistical learning and then represented in the mPFC but not hippocampus two and three weeks after statistical learning. Taken together, these findings suggest that the hippocampus may contribute to the initial extraction of regularities prior to cortical consolidation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn N Graves
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
| | - Brynn E Sherman
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - David Huberdeau
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Eyiyemisi Damisah
- Department of Neurosurgery, Yale University, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
| | - Imran H Quraishi
- Department of Neurology, Yale University, 800 Howard Ave., New Haven, CT, 06519, USA
| | - Nicholas B Turk-Browne
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT, 06520, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, 100 College St, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
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Loui P. New music system reveals spectral contribution to statistical learning. Cognition 2022; 224:105071. [PMID: 35227982 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 02/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Knowledge of speech and music depends upon the ability to perceive relationships between sounds in order to form a stable mental representation of statistical structure. Although evidence exists for the learning of musical scale structure from the statistical properties of sound events, little research has been able to observe how specific acoustic features contribute to statistical learning independent of the effects of long-term exposure. Here, using a new musical system, we show that spectral content is an important cue for acquiring musical scale structure. In two experiments, participants completed probe-tone ratings before and after a half-hour period of exposure to melodies in a novel musical scale with a predefined statistical structure. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to either a no-exposure control group, or to exposure groups who heard pure tone or complex tone sequences. In Experiment 2, participants were randomly assigned to exposure groups who heard complex tones constructed with odd harmonics or even harmonics. Learning outcome was assessed by correlating pre/post-exposure ratings and the statistical structure of tones within the exposure period. Spectral information significantly affected sensitivity to statistical structure: participants were able to learn after exposure to all tested timbres, but did best at learning with timbres with odd harmonics, which were congruent with scale structure. Results show that spectral amplitude distribution is a useful cue for statistical learning, and suggest that musical scale structure might be acquired through exposure to spectral distribution in sounds.
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Smit EA, Milne AJ, Escudero P. Music Perception Abilities and Ambiguous Word Learning: Is There Cross-Domain Transfer in Nonmusicians? Front Psychol 2022; 13:801263. [PMID: 35401340 PMCID: PMC8984940 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.801263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Perception of music and speech is based on similar auditory skills, and it is often suggested that those with enhanced music perception skills may perceive and learn novel words more easily. The current study tested whether music perception abilities are associated with novel word learning in an ambiguous learning scenario. Using a cross-situational word learning (CSWL) task, nonmusician adults were exposed to word-object pairings between eight novel words and visual referents. Novel words were either non-minimal pairs differing in all sounds or minimal pairs differing in their initial consonant or vowel. In order to be successful in this task, learners need to be able to correctly encode the phonological details of the novel words and have sufficient auditory working memory to remember the correct word-object pairings. Using the Mistuning Perception Test (MPT) and the Melodic Discrimination Test (MDT), we measured learners’ pitch perception and auditory working memory. We predicted that those with higher MPT and MDT values would perform better in the CSWL task and in particular for novel words with high phonological overlap (i.e., minimal pairs). We found that higher musical perception skills led to higher accuracy for non-minimal pairs and minimal pairs differing in their initial consonant. Interestingly, this was not the case for vowel minimal pairs. We discuss the results in relation to theories of second language word learning such as the Second Language Perception model (L2LP).
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Affiliation(s)
- Eline A. Smit
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- *Correspondence: Eline A. Smit,
| | - Andrew J. Milne
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Paola Escudero
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Musical instrument familiarity affects statistical learning of tone sequences. Cognition 2021; 218:104949. [PMID: 34768123 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Most listeners have an implicit understanding of the rules that govern how music unfolds over time. This knowledge is acquired in part through statistical learning, a robust learning mechanism that allows individuals to extract regularities from the environment. However, it is presently unclear how this prior musical knowledge might facilitate or interfere with the learning of novel tone sequences that do not conform to familiar musical rules. In the present experiment, participants listened to novel, statistically structured tone sequences composed of pitch intervals not typically found in Western music. Between participants, the tone sequences either had the timbre of artificial, computerized instruments or familiar instruments (piano or violin). Knowledge of the statistical regularities was measured as by a two-alternative forced choice recognition task, requiring discrimination between novel sequences that followed versus violated the statistical structure, assessed at three time points (immediately post-training, as well as one day and one week post-training). Compared to artificial instruments, training on familiar instruments resulted in reduced accuracy. Moreover, sequences from familiar instruments - but not artificial instruments - were more likely to be judged as grammatical when they contained intervals that approximated those commonly used in Western music, even though this cue was non-informative. Overall, these results demonstrate that instrument familiarity can interfere with the learning of novel statistical regularities, presumably through biasing memory representations to be aligned with Western musical structures. These results demonstrate that real-world experience influences statistical learning in a non-linguistic domain, supporting the view that statistical learning involves the continuous updating of existing representations, rather than the establishment of entirely novel ones.
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Sherman BE, Graves KN, Turk-Browne NB. The prevalence and importance of statistical learning in human cognition and behavior. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020; 32:15-20. [PMID: 32258249 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Statistical learning, the ability to extract regularities from the environment over time, has become a topic of burgeoning interest. Its influence on behavior, spanning infancy to adulthood, has been demonstrated across a range of tasks, both those labeled as tests of statistical learning and those from other learning domains that predated statistical learning research or that are not typically considered in the context of that literature. Given this pervasive role in human cognition, statistical learning has the potential to reconcile seemingly distinct learning phenomena and may be an under-appreciated but important contributor to a wide range of human behaviors that are studied as unrelated processes, such as episodic memory and spatial navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brynn E Sherman
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Kathryn N Graves
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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Lumaca M, Kleber B, Brattico E, Vuust P, Baggio G. Functional connectivity in human auditory networks and the origins of variation in the transmission of musical systems. eLife 2019; 8:48710. [PMID: 31658945 PMCID: PMC6819097 DOI: 10.7554/elife.48710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Music producers, whether original composers or performers, vary in their ability to acquire and faithfully transmit music. This form of variation may serve as a mechanism for the emergence of new traits in musical systems. In this study, we aim to investigate whether individual differences in the social learning and transmission of music relate to intrinsic neural dynamics of auditory processing systems. We combined auditory and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with an interactive laboratory model of cultural transmission, the signaling game, in an experiment with a large cohort of participants (N=51). We found that the degree of interhemispheric rs-FC within fronto-temporal auditory networks predicts—weeks after scanning—learning, transmission, and structural modification of an artificial tone system. Our study introduces neuroimaging in cultural transmission research and points to specific neural auditory processing mechanisms that constrain and drive variation in the cultural transmission and regularization of musical systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Lumaca
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Boris Kleber
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Elvira Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Giosue Baggio
- Language Acquisition and Language Processing Lab, Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Smit EA, Milne AJ, Dean RT, Weidemann G. Perception of affect in unfamiliar musical chords. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0218570. [PMID: 31226170 PMCID: PMC6588276 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the role of extrinsic and intrinsic predictors in the perception of affect in mostly unfamiliar musical chords from the Bohlen-Pierce microtonal tuning system. Extrinsic predictors are derived, in part, from long-term statistical regularities in music; for example, the prevalence of a chord in a corpus of music that is relevant to a participant. Conversely, intrinsic predictors make no use of long-term statistical regularities in music; for example, psychoacoustic features inherent in the music, such as roughness. Two types of affect were measured for each chord: pleasantness/unpleasantness and happiness/sadness. We modelled the data with a number of novel and well-established intrinsic predictors, namely roughness, harmonicity, spectral entropy and average pitch height; and a single extrinsic predictor, 12-TET Dissimilarity, which was estimated by the chord’s smallest distance to any 12-tone equally tempered chord. Musical sophistication was modelled as a potential moderator of the above predictors. Two experiments were conducted, each using slightly different tunings of the Bohlen-Pierce musical system: a just intonation version and an equal-tempered version. It was found that, across both tunings and across both affective responses, all the tested intrinsic features and 12-TET Dissimilarity have consistent influences in the expected direction. These results contrast with much current music perception research, which tends to assume the dominance of extrinsic over intrinsic predictors. This study highlights the importance of both intrinsic characteristics of the acoustic signal itself, as well as extrinsic factors, such as 12-TET Dissimilarity, on perception of affect in music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eline Adrianne Smit
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Andrew J. Milne
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia
| | - Roger T. Dean
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia
| | - Gabrielle Weidemann
- MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Milperra, NSW, Australia
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Cedro ÁM, Borges J, Diniz MLN, Rodrigues RM, Rico VV, Leme AC, Huziwara EM. Evaluating Concept Formation in Multiple Exemplar Training with Musical Chords. PSYCHOLOGICAL RECORD 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40732-019-00346-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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