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Bianco R, Novembre G, Ringer H, Kohler N, Keller PE, Villringer A, Sammler D. Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Is a Hub for Music Production from Structural Rules to Movements. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:3878-3895. [PMID: 34965579 PMCID: PMC9476625 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 11/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Complex sequential behaviors, such as speaking or playing music, entail flexible rule-based chaining of single acts. However, it remains unclear how the brain translates abstract structural rules into movements. We combined music production with multimodal neuroimaging to dissociate high-level structural and low-level motor planning. Pianists played novel musical chord sequences on a muted MR-compatible piano by imitating a model hand on screen. Chord sequences were manipulated in terms of musical harmony and context length to assess structural planning, and in terms of fingers used for playing to assess motor planning. A model of probabilistic sequence processing confirmed temporally extended dependencies between chords, as opposed to local dependencies between movements. Violations of structural plans activated the left inferior frontal and middle temporal gyrus, and the fractional anisotropy of the ventral pathway connecting these two regions positively predicted behavioral measures of structural planning. A bilateral frontoparietal network was instead activated by violations of motor plans. Both structural and motor networks converged in lateral prefrontal cortex, with anterior regions contributing to musical structure building, and posterior areas to movement planning. These results establish a promising approach to study sequence production at different levels of action representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Bianco
- UCL Ear Institute, University College London, London WC1X 8EE, UK.,Otto Hahn Research Group Neural Bases of Intonation in Speech and Music, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Rome 00161, Italy
| | - Hanna Ringer
- Otto Hahn Research Group Neural Bases of Intonation in Speech and Music, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.,Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig 04109, Germany
| | - Natalie Kohler
- Otto Hahn Research Group Neural Bases of Intonation in Speech and Music, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.,Research Group Neurocognition of Music and Language, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany
| | - Peter E Keller
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark.,The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW 2751, Australia
| | - Arno Villringer
- Otto Hahn Research Group Neural Bases of Intonation in Speech and Music, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Daniela Sammler
- Otto Hahn Research Group Neural Bases of Intonation in Speech and Music, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany.,Research Group Neurocognition of Music and Language, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main 60322, Germany
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2
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Gorin S. Temporal grouping effects in verbal and musical short-term memory: Is serial order representation domain-general? Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2021; 75:1603-1627. [PMID: 34698553 PMCID: PMC9329764 DOI: 10.1177/17470218211057466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The question of the domain-general versus domain-specific nature of the serial order mechanisms involved in short-term memory is currently under debate. The present study aimed at addressing this question through the study of temporal grouping effects in short-term memory tasks with musical material, a domain which has received little interest so far. The goal was to determine whether positional coding-currently the best account of grouping effect in verbal short-term memory-represents a viable mechanism to explain grouping effects in the musical domain. In a first experiment, non-musicians performed serial reconstruction of 6-tone sequences, where half of the sequences was grouped by groups of three items and the other half presented at a regular pace. The overall data pattern suggests that temporal grouping exerts on tone sequences reconstruction the same effects as in the verbal domain, except for ordering errors which were not characterised by the typical increase of interpositions. This pattern has been replicated in two additional experiments with verbal material, using the same grouping structure as in the musical experiment. The findings support that verbal and musical short-term memory domains are characterised by similar temporal grouping effects for the recall of 6-item lists grouped by three, but it also suggests the existence of boundary condition to observe an increase in interposition errors predicted by positional theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Gorin
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Éducation, Université de Genève, Genève, Switzerland.,Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brigue, Switzerland
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Bianco R, Gold BP, Johnson AP, Penhune VB. Music predictability and liking enhance pupil dilation and promote motor learning in non-musicians. Sci Rep 2019; 9:17060. [PMID: 31745159 PMCID: PMC6863863 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53510-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans can anticipate music and derive pleasure from it. Expectations facilitate the learning of movements associated with anticipated events, and they are also linked with reward, which may further facilitate learning of the anticipated rewarding events. The present study investigates the synergistic effects of predictability and hedonic responses to music on arousal and motor-learning in a naïve population. Novel melodies were manipulated in their overall predictability (predictable/unpredictable) as objectively defined by a model of music expectation, and ranked as high/medium/low liked based on participants' self-reports collected during an initial listening session. During this session, we also recorded ocular pupil size as an implicit measure of listeners' arousal. During the following motor task, participants learned to play target notes of the melodies on a keyboard (notes were of similar motor and musical complexity across melodies). Pupil dilation was greater for liked melodies, particularly when predictable. Motor performance was facilitated in predictable rather than unpredictable melodies, but liked melodies were learned even in the unpredictable condition. Low-liked melodies also showed learning but mostly in participants with higher scores of task perceived competence. Taken together, these results highlight the effects of stimuli predictability on learning, which can be however overshadowed by the effects of stimulus liking or task-related intrinsic motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Bianco
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, UK.
| | - B P Gold
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - A P Johnson
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - V B Penhune
- Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montreal, QC, Canada
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Verbal and Musical Short-Term Memory: Evidence for Shared Serial Order Processes? Psychol Belg 2019; 59:177-205. [PMID: 31328016 PMCID: PMC6625548 DOI: 10.5334/pb.426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
This study explored the validity of an integrative framework for verbal and musical short-term memory (STM). Following this framework, access to domain-specific long-term knowledge bases supports the processing of musical and verbal item information in STM, while domain-general ordering processes support the representation of serial order information in the two domains. We exposed participants to verbal and musical STM tasks assessing either item information, order information, or both item and order information. Using an interindividual differences approach, we observed that performance in item-based STM tasks was not strongly associated between musical and verbal domains. In contrast, strong between-domain associations were observed for STM tasks assessing processing of verbal order and musical rhythm information. These preliminary results are overall in agreement with an integrative approach of verbal and musical STM. At the same time, the results highlight the difficulty of measuring serial order processing in the musical STM domain in a direct and specific manner.
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Palmer C, Spidle F, Koopmans E, Schubert P. Ears, heads, and eyes: When singers synchronise. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2019; 72:2272-2287. [PMID: 30744490 DOI: 10.1177/1747021819833968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We examined the relationship between endogenous rhythms, auditory and visual cues, and body movement in the temporal coordination of duet singers. Sixteen pairs of experienced vocalists sang a familiar melody in Solo and two Duet conditions. Vocalists sang together in Unison (simultaneously producing identical pitches) and Round Duet conditions (one vocalist, the Follower, producing pitches at an eight-tone delay from their partner, the Leader) while facing Inward (full visual cues) and Outward (reduced visual cues). Larger tempo differences in partners' spontaneous (temporally unconstrained) Solo performances were associated with larger asynchrony in Duet performances, consistent with coupling predictions for oscillators with similar natural frequencies. Vocalists were slightly but consistently more synchronous in Duets when facing their partner (Inward) than when facing Outward; Unison and Round performances were equally synchronous. The greater difficulty of Rounds production was evidenced in vocalists' slower performance rates and more variable head movements; Followers directed their head gaze away from their partner and used bobbing head movements to mark the musical beat. The strength of Followers' head movements corresponded to the amount of tone onset asynchrony with their partners, indicating a strong association between timing and movement under increased attentional and working memory demands in music performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Palmer
- 1 Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Frances Spidle
- 1 Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Erik Koopmans
- 1 Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Peter Schubert
- 2 Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Mathias B, Gehring WJ, Palmer C. Electrical Brain Responses Reveal Sequential Constraints on Planning during Music Performance. Brain Sci 2019; 9:E25. [PMID: 30696038 PMCID: PMC6406892 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9020025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2019] [Accepted: 01/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Elements in speech and music unfold sequentially over time. To produce sentences and melodies quickly and accurately, individuals must plan upcoming sequence events, as well as monitor outcomes via auditory feedback. We investigated the neural correlates of sequential planning and monitoring processes by manipulating auditory feedback during music performance. Pianists performed isochronous melodies from memory at an initially cued rate while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Pitch feedback was occasionally altered to match either an immediately upcoming Near-Future pitch (next sequence event) or a more distant Far-Future pitch (two events ahead of the current event). Near-Future, but not Far-Future altered feedback perturbed the timing of pianists' performances, suggesting greater interference of Near-Future sequential events with current planning processes. Near-Future feedback triggered a greater reduction in auditory sensory suppression (enhanced response) than Far-Future feedback, reflected in the P2 component elicited by the pitch event following the unexpected pitch change. Greater timing perturbations were associated with enhanced cortical sensory processing of the pitch event following the Near-Future altered feedback. Both types of feedback alterations elicited feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3a potentials and amplified spectral power in the theta frequency range. These findings suggest similar constraints on producers' sequential planning to those reported in speech production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Mathias
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
- Research Group Neural Mechanisms of Human Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - William J Gehring
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| | - Caroline Palmer
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1B1, Canada.
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A comparison of serial order short-term memory effects across verbal and musical domains. Mem Cognit 2017; 46:464-481. [DOI: 10.3758/s13421-017-0778-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Gorin
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Fund for Scientific Research–FNRS, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pierre Mengal
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Steve Majerus
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Fund for Scientific Research–FNRS, Brussels, Belgium
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Gorin S, Kowialiewski B, Majerus S. Domain-Generality of Timing-Based Serial Order Processes in Short-Term Memory: New Insights from Musical and Verbal Domains. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0168699. [PMID: 27992565 PMCID: PMC5167417 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 12/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Several models in the verbal domain of short-term memory (STM) consider a dissociation between item and order processing. This view is supported by data demonstrating that different types of time-based interference have a greater effect on memory for the order of to-be-remembered items than on memory for the items themselves. The present study investigated the domain-generality of the item versus serial order dissociation by comparing the differential effects of time-based interfering tasks, such as rhythmic interference and articulatory suppression, on item and order processing in verbal and musical STM domains. In Experiment 1, participants had to maintain sequences of verbal or musical information in STM, followed by a probe sequence, this under different conditions of interference (no-interference, rhythmic interference, articulatory suppression). They were required to decide whether all items of the probe list matched those of the memory list (item condition) or whether the order of the items in the probe sequence matched the order in the memory list (order condition). In Experiment 2, participants performed a serial order probe recognition task for verbal and musical sequences ensuring sequential maintenance processes, under no-interference or rhythmic interference conditions. For Experiment 1, serial order recognition was not significantly more impacted by interfering tasks than was item recognition, this for both verbal and musical domains. For Experiment 2, we observed selective interference of the rhythmic interference condition on both musical and verbal order STM tasks. Overall, the results suggest a similar and selective sensitivity to time-based interference for serial order STM in verbal and musical domains, but only when the STM tasks ensure sequential maintenance processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Gorin
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Educational Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Fund for Scientific Research–FNRS, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Benjamin Kowialiewski
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Educational Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Fund for Scientific Research–FNRS, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Steve Majerus
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit (PsyNCog), Faculty of Psychology, Speech Therapy and Educational Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Fund for Scientific Research–FNRS, Brussels, Belgium
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Asano R, Boeckx C. Syntax in language and music: what is the right level of comparison? Front Psychol 2015; 6:942. [PMID: 26191034 PMCID: PMC4488597 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2015] [Accepted: 06/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
It is often claimed that music and language share a process of hierarchical structure building, a mental “syntax.” Although several lines of research point to commonalities, and possibly a shared syntactic component, differences between “language syntax” and “music syntax” can also be found at several levels: conveyed meaning, and the atoms of combination, for example. To bring music and language closer to one another, some researchers have suggested a comparison between music and phonology (“phonological syntax”), but here too, one quickly arrives at a situation of intriguing similarities and obvious differences. In this paper, we suggest that a fruitful comparison between the two domains could benefit from taking the grammar of action into account. In particular, we suggest that what is called “syntax” can be investigated in terms of goal of action, action planning, motor control, and sensory-motor integration. At this level of comparison, we suggest that some of the differences between language and music could be explained in terms of different goals reflected in the hierarchical structures of action planning: the hierarchical structures of music arise to achieve goals with a strong relation to the affective-gestural system encoding tension-relaxation patterns as well as socio-intentional system, whereas hierarchical structures in language are embedded in a conceptual system that gives rise to compositional meaning. Similarities between music and language are most clear in the way several hierarchical plans for executing action are processed in time and sequentially integrated to achieve various goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rie Asano
- Department of Systematic Musicology, Institute of Musicology, University of Cologne , Cologne, Germany
| | - Cedric Boeckx
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies , Barcelona, Spain ; Department of General Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona , Barcelona, Spain
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