The sweet spot between predictability and surprise: musical groove in brain, body, and social interactions

Understanding music and aging through the lens of Bayesian inference

Bayesian inference has recently gained momentum in explaining music perception and aging. A fundamental mechanism underlying Bayesian inference is the notion of prediction. This framework could explain how predictions pertaining to musical (melodic, rhythmic, harmonic) structures engender action, emotion, and learning, expanding related concepts of music research, such as musical expectancies, groove, pleasure, and tension. Moreover, a Bayesian perspective of music perception may shed new insights on the beneficial effects of music in aging. Aging could be framed as an optimization process of Bayesian inference. As predictive inferences refine over time, the reliance on consolidated priors increases, while the updating of prior models through Bayesian inference attenuates. This may affect the ability of older adults to estimate uncertainties in their environment, limiting their cognitive and behavioral repertoire. With Bayesian inference as an overarching framework, this review synthesizes the literature on predictive inferences in music and aging, and details how music could be a promising tool in preventive and rehabilitative interventions for older adults through the lens of Bayesian inference.

Music reward sensitivity is associated with greater information transfer capacity within dorsal and motor white matter networks in musicians

There are pronounced differences in the degree to which individuals experience music-induced pleasure which are linked to variations in structural connectivity between auditory and reward areas. However, previous studies exploring the link between white matter structure and music reward sensitivity (MRS) have relied on standard diffusion tensor imaging methods, which present challenges in terms of anatomical accuracy and interpretability. Further, the link between MRS and connectivity in regions outside of auditory-reward networks, as well as the role of musical training, have yet to be investigated. Therefore, we investigated the relation between MRS and structural connectivity in a large number of directly segmented and anatomically verified white matter tracts in musicians (n = 24) and non-musicians (n = 23) using state-of-the-art tract reconstruction and fixel-based analysis. Using a manual tract-of-interest approach, we additionally tested MRS-white matter associations in auditory-reward networks seen in previous studies. Within the musician group, there was a significant positive relation between MRS and fiber density and cross section in the right middle longitudinal fascicle connecting auditory and inferior parietal cortices. There were also positive relations between MRS and fiber-bundle cross-section in tracts connecting the left thalamus to the ventral precentral gyrus and connecting the right thalamus to the right supplementary motor area, however, these did not survive FDR correction. These results suggest that, within musicians, dorsal auditory and motor networks are crucial to MRS, possibly via their roles in top-down predictive processing and auditory-motor transformations.

The perceived catchiness of music affects the experience of groove

Catchiness and groove are common phenomena when listening to popular music. Catchiness may be a potential factor for experiencing groove but quantitative evidence for such a relationship is missing. To examine whether and how catchiness influences a key component of groove-the pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM)-we conducted a listening experiment with 450 participants and 240 short popular music clips of drum patterns, bass lines or keys/guitar parts. We found four main results: (1) catchiness as measured in a recognition task was only weakly associated with participants' perceived catchiness of music. We showed that perceived catchiness is multi-dimensional, subjective, and strongly associated with pleasure. (2) We found a sizeable positive relationship between PLUMM and perceived catchiness. (3) However, the relationship is complex, as further analysis showed that pleasure suppresses perceived catchiness' effect on the urge to move. (4) We compared common factors that promote perceived catchiness and PLUMM and found that listener-related variables contributed similarly, while the effects of musical content diverged. Overall, our data suggests music perceived as catchy is likely to foster groove experiences.

A review of psychological and neuroscientific research on musical groove

When listening to music, we naturally move our bodies rhythmically to the beat, which can be pleasurable and difficult to resist. This pleasurable sensation of wanting to move the body to music has been called "groove." Following pioneering humanities research, psychological and neuroscientific studies have provided insights on associated musical features, behavioral responses, phenomenological aspects, and brain structural and functional correlates of the groove experience. Groove research has advanced the field of music science and more generally informed our understanding of bidirectional links between perception and action, and the role of the motor system in prediction. Activity in motor and reward-related brain networks during music listening is associated with the groove experience, and this neural activity is linked to temporal prediction and learning. This article reviews research on groove as a psychological phenomenon with neurophysiological correlates that link musical rhythm perception, sensorimotor prediction, and reward processing. Promising future research directions range from elucidating specific neural mechanisms to exploring clinical applications and socio-cultural implications of groove.

Syncopation as structure bootstrapping: the role of asymmetry in rhythm and language

Syncopation - the occurrence of a musical event on a metrically weak position preceding a rest on a metrically strong position - represents an important challenge in the study of the mapping between rhythm and meter. In this contribution, we present the hypothesis that syncopation is an effective strategy to elicit the bootstrapping of a multi-layered, hierarchically organized metric structure from a linear rhythmic surface. The hypothesis is inspired by a parallel with the problem of linearization in natural language syntax, which is the problem of how hierarchically organized phrase-structure markers are mapped onto linear sequences of words. The hypothesis has important consequences for the role of meter in music perception and cognition and, more particularly, for its role in the relationship between rhythm and bodily entrainment.

Love songs and serenades: a theoretical review of music and romantic relationships

In this theoretical review, we examine how the roles of music in mate choice and social bonding are expressed in romantic relationships. Darwin's Descent of Man originally proposed the idea that musicality might have evolved as a sexually selected trait. This proposition, coupled with the portrayal of popular musicians as sex symbols and the prevalence of love-themed lyrics in music, suggests a possible link between music and attraction. However, recent scientific exploration of the evolutionary functions of music has predominantly focused on theories of social bonding and group signaling, with limited research addressing the sexual selection hypothesis. We identify two distinct types of music-making for these different functions: music for attraction, which would be virtuosic in nature to display physical and cognitive fitness to potential mates; and music for connection, which would facilitate synchrony between partners and likely engage the same reward mechanisms seen in the general synchrony-bonding effect, enhancing perceived interpersonal intimacy as a facet of love. Linking these two musical functions to social psychological theories of relationship development and the components of love, we present a model that outlines the potential roles of music in romantic relationships, from initial attraction to ongoing relationship maintenance. In addition to synthesizing the existing literature, our model serves as a roadmap for empirical research aimed at rigorously investigating the possible functions of music for romantic relationships.

Meaning-making and creativity in musical entrainment

In this paper we suggest that basic forms of musical entrainment may be considered as intrinsically creative, enabling further creative behaviors which may flourish at different levels and timescales. Rooted in an agent's capacity to form meaningful couplings with their sonic, social, and cultural environment, musical entrainment favors processes of adaptation and exploration, where innovative and functional aspects are cultivated via active, bodily experience. We explore these insights through a theoretical lens that integrates findings from enactive cognitive science and creative cognition research. We center our examination on the realms of groove experience and the communicative and emotional dimensions of music, aiming to present a novel preliminary perspective on musical entrainment, rooted in the fundamental concepts of meaning-making and creativity. To do so, we draw from a suite of approaches that place particular emphasis on the role of situated experience and review a range of recent empirical work on entrainment (in musical and non-musical settings), emphasizing the latter's biological and cognitive foundations. We conclude that musical entrainment may be regarded as a building block for different musical creativities that shape one's musical development, offering a concrete example for how this theory could be empirically tested in the future.

Dopamine dysregulation in Parkinson's disease flattens the pleasurable urge to move to musical rhythms

The pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM) activates motor and reward areas of the brain and is thought to be driven by predictive processes. Dopamine in motor and limbic networks is implicated in beat-based timing and music-induced pleasure, suggesting a central role of basal ganglia (BG) dopaminergic systems in PLUMM. This study tested this hypothesis by comparing PLUMM in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD), age-matched controls, and young controls. Participants listened to musical sequences with varying rhythmic and harmonic complexity (low, medium and high), and rated their experienced pleasure and urge to move to the rhythm. In line with previous results, healthy younger participants showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between rhythmic complexity and ratings, with preference for medium complexity rhythms, while age-matched controls showed a similar, but weaker, inverted U-shaped response. Conversely, PD showed a significantly flattened response for both the urge to move and pleasure. Crucially, this flattened response could not be attributed to differences in rhythm discrimination and did not reflect an overall decrease in ratings. For harmonic complexity, PD showed a negative linear pattern for both the urge to move and pleasure while healthy age-matched controls showed the same pattern for pleasure and an inverted U for the urge to move. This contrasts with the pattern observed in young healthy controls in previous studies, suggesting that both healthy aging and PD also influence affective responses to harmonic complexity. Together, these results support the role of dopamine within cortico-striatal circuits in the predictive processes that form the link between the perceptual processing of rhythmic patterns and the affective and motor responses to rhythmic music.

Making sense of music: Insights from neurophysiology and connectivity analyses in naturalistic listening conditions

According to the latest frameworks, auditory perception and memory involve the constant prediction of future sound events by the brain, based on the continuous extraction of feature regularities from the environment. The neural hierarchical mechanisms for predictive processes in perception and memory for sounds are typically studied in relation to simple acoustic features in isolated sounds or sound patterns inserted in highly certain contexts. Such studies have identified reliable prediction formation and error signals, e.g., the N100 or the mismatch negativity (MMN) evoked responses. In real life, though, individuals often face situations in which uncertainty prevails and where making sense of sounds becomes a hard challenge. In music, not only deviations from predictions are masterly set up by composers to induce emotions but sometimes the sheer uncertainty of sound scenes is exploited for aesthetic purposes, especially in compositional styles such as Western atonal classical music. In very recent magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) studies, experimental and technical advances in stimulation paradigms and analysis approaches have permitted the identification of prediction-error responses from highly uncertain, atonal contexts and the extraction of prediction-related responses from real, continuous music. Moreover, functional connectivity analyses revealed the emergence of cortico-hippocampal interactions during the formation of auditory memories for more predictable vs. less predictable patterns. These findings contribute to understanding the general brain mechanisms that enable us to predict even highly uncertain sound environments and to possibly make sense of and appreciate even atonal music.

An integrated review of music cognition and rhythmic stimuli in sensorimotor neurocognition and neurorehabilitation

This work reviews the growing body of interdisciplinary research on music cognition, using biomechanical, kinesiological, clinical, psychosocial, and sociological methods. The review primarily examines the relationship between temporal elements in music and motor responses under varying contexts, with considerable relevance for clinical rehabilitation. After providing an overview of the terminology and approaches pertinent to theories of rhythm and meter from the musical-theoretical and cognitive fields, this review focuses on studies on the effects of rhythmic sensory stimulation on gait, rhythmic cues' effect on the motor system, reactions to rhythmic stimuli attempting to synchronize mobility (i.e., musical embodiment), and the application of rhythm for motor rehabilitation for individuals with Parkinson's disease, stroke, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and other neurodegenerative or neurotraumatic diseases. This work ultimately bridges the gap between the musical-theoretical and cognitive science fields to facilitate innovative research in which each discipline informs the other.

Can rhythm-mediated reward boost learning, memory, and social connection? Perspectives for future research

Studies of rhythm processing and of reward have progressed separately, with little connection between the two. However, consistent links between rhythm and reward are beginning to surface, with research suggesting that synchronization to rhythm is rewarding, and that this rewarding element may in turn also boost this synchronization. The current mini review shows that the combined study of rhythm and reward can be beneficial to better understand their independent and combined roles across two central aspects of cognition: 1) learning and memory, and 2) social connection and interpersonal synchronization; which have so far been studied largely independently. From this basis, it is discussed how connections between rhythm and reward can be applied to learning and memory and social connection across different populations, taking into account individual differences, clinical populations, human development, and animal research. Future research will need to consider the rewarding nature of rhythm, and that rhythm can in turn boost reward, potentially enhancing other cognitive and social processes.