When the brain plays music: auditory–motor interactions in music perception and production
TL;DR: This work reviews the cognitive neuroscience literature of both motor and auditory domains, highlighting the value of studying interactions between these systems in a musical context, and proposes some ideas concerning the role of the premotor cortex in integration of higher order features of music with appropriately timed and organized actions.
Abstract: Music performance is both a natural human activity, present in all societies, and one of the most complex and demanding cognitive challenges that the human mind can undertake. Unlike most other sensory-motor activities, music performance requires precise timing of several hierarchically organized actions, as well as precise control over pitch interval production, implemented through diverse effectors according to the instrument involved. We review the cognitive neuroscience literature of both motor and auditory domains, highlighting the value of studying interactions between these systems in a musical context, and propose some ideas concerning the role of the premotor cortex in integration of higher order features of music with appropriately timed and organized actions.
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TL;DR: The effects of music training in relation to brain plasticity have caused excitement, evident from the popularity of books on this topic among scientists and the general public as discussed by the authors, which suggests that, akin to physical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness.
Abstract: The effects of music training in relation to brain plasticity have caused excitement, evident from the popularity of books on this topic among scientists and the general public. Neuroscience research has shown that music training leads to changes throughout the auditory system that prime musicians for listening challenges beyond music processing. This effect of music training suggests that, akin to physical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness. Therefore, the role of music in shaping individual development deserves consideration.
855 citations
TL;DR: The authors exploit newly available massive natu- ral language corpora to capture the language as a language evolution phenomenon. But their work is limited to a subset of the languages in the corpus.
826 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that, in addition to their role in movement production, the basal ganglia and SMAs may mediate beat perception.
Abstract: When we listen to rhythm, we often move spontaneously to the beat. This movement may result from processing of the beat by motor areas. Previous studies have shown that several motor areas respond when attending to rhythms. Here we investigate whether specific motor regions respond to beat in rhythm. We predicted that the basal ganglia and supplementary motor area (SMA) would respond in the presence of a regular beat. To establish what rhythm properties induce a beat, we asked subjects to reproduce different types of rhythmic sequences. Improved reproduction was observed for one rhythm type, which had integer ratio relationships between its intervals and regular perceptual accents. A subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging study found that these rhythms also elicited higher activity in the basal ganglia and SMA. This finding was consistent across different levels of musical training, although musicians showed activation increases unrelated to rhythm type in the premotor cortex, cerebellum, and SMAs (pre-SMA and SMA). We conclude that, in addition to their role in movement production, the basal ganglia and SMAs may mediate beat perception.
821 citations
TL;DR: Functional neuroimaging studies on music and emotion show that music can modulate activity in brain structures that are known to be crucially involved in emotion, such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, hippocampus, insula, cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex.
Abstract: Music is a universal feature of human societies, partly owing to its power to evoke strong emotions and influence moods. During the past decade, the investigation of the neural correlates of music-evoked emotions has been invaluable for the understanding of human emotion. Functional neuroimaging studies on music and emotion show that music can modulate activity in brain structures that are known to be crucially involved in emotion, such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, hippocampus, insula, cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. The potential of music to modulate activity in these structures has important implications for the use of music in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.
752 citations
TL;DR: Although neuroimaging is unlikely to be cheaper than other tools in the near future, there is growing evidence that it may provide hidden information about the consumer experience.
Abstract: The application of neuroimaging methods to product marketing - neuromarketing - has recently gained considerable popularity. We propose that there are two main reasons for this trend. First, the possibility that neuroimaging will become cheaper and faster than other marketing methods; and second, the hope that neuroimaging will provide marketers with information that is not obtainable through conventional marketing methods. Although neuroimaging is unlikely to be cheaper than other tools in the near future, there is growing evidence that it may provide hidden information about the consumer experience. The most promising application of neuroimaging methods to marketing may come before a product is even released - when it is just an idea being developed.
744 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1995TL;DR: This chapter discusses vision from a biological point of view, attention, consciousness, and the coordination of behaviour in primate visual cortex, and discusses dissociations between perception and action in normal subjects.
Abstract: Prologue 1. Introduction: vision from a biological point of view 2. Visual processing in the primate visual cortex 3. 'Cortical blindness' 4. Disorders of spatial perception and the visual control of action 5. Disorders of visual recognition 6. Dissociations between perception and action in normal subjects 7. Attention, consciousness, and the coordination of behaviour 8. Epilogue: twelve years on
4,115 citations
"When the brain plays music: auditor..." refers background in this paper
..., analogous to the role proposed for the visual dorsal strea...
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TL;DR: The mirror-neuron mechanism appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation as mentioned in this paper, which is at the basis of human culture and ability to learn by imitation.
Abstract: � Abstract A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others’ actions: imitation learning. Unlike most species, we are able to learn by imitation, and this faculty is at the basis of human culture. In this review we present data on a neurophysiological mechanism—the mirror-neuron mechanism—that appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation. We describe first the functional properties of mirror neurons in monkeys. We review next the characteristics of the mirror-neuron system in humans. We stress, in particular, those properties specific to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity to learn by imitation. We conclude by discussing the relationship between the mirror-neuron system and language.
3,161 citations
TL;DR: Evidence for the existence of a system, the 'mirror system', that seems to serve this mapping function in primates and humans is discussed, and its implications for the understanding and imitation of action are explored.
Abstract: What are the neural bases of action understanding? Although this capacity could merely involve visual analysis of the action, it has been argued that we actually map this visual information onto its motor representation in our nervous system. Here we discuss evidence for the existence of a system, the 'mirror system', that seems to serve this mapping function in primates and humans, and explore its implications for the understanding and imitation of action.
2,995 citations
"When the brain plays music: auditor..." refers background in this paper
...This system has been proposed to form the neural basis for action understanding: visual representations of actions that we observe are mapped onto our own motor syste...
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TL;DR: It is proposed here that an observation/execution matching system provides a necessary bridge from'doing' to'communicating', as the link between actor and observer becomes a link between the sender and the receiver of each message.
2,675 citations
"When the brain plays music: auditor..." refers background in this paper
...The presence of such 'echo neurons' has led to the proposal that this system may be a neural basis for the evolution of speec...
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TL;DR: A motor theory of speech perception, initially proposed to account for results of early experiments with synthetic speech, is now extensively revised to accommodate recent findings, and to relate the assumptions of the theory to those that might be made about other perceptual modes.
2,523 citations
"When the brain plays music: auditor..." refers result in this paper
...This idea is compatible with the much older motor theory of speech perceptio...
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