Collaborative Research: Brain Mechanisms of Rhythm Perception: The Impact of the Motor System on Auditory Perception

合作研究：节奏感知的大脑机制：运动系统对听觉感知的影响

• 批准号: 1460633
• 负责人: Ramesh Balasubramaniam
• 金额: $ 23.31万
• 依托单位: University of California - Merced
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1460633&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Brain; Mechanisms; Rhythm

The perception of rhythmic patterns of events in time is central to our ability to find meaning in the sounds of language and music: the basis for much of human culture and communication. We do not passively receive temporal patterns, but actively engage with them by using a repeating 'pulse' or 'beat' to form an essential scaffold for our perception of time. This ability might be most obvious when expressed through dance, or simply tapping a foot to music, but it has deeper importance for how we comprehend sound even in the absence of movement. The scaffold provided by the beat cycle enables listeners to predict upcoming events, allowing more efficient encoding and learning of sensory patterns. How does this important perceptual mechanism work? New evidence suggests that perceiving patterns in sound doesn't depend only on the auditory system, but also involves activation of the motor system, even when the listener is not moving. This proposal tests the provocative and potentially transformative idea that motor planning activity is not only to help us move, but is also necessary for perception of patterns in the sounds we hear. This research has many potential societal benefits in both education and medicine. An understanding of the auditory-motor interactions underlying rhythm perception could explain a growing number of findings suggesting an important link between beat perception and language, including the development of reading in children, the perception of speech in noise, and attention, and may help drive improved educational interventions. The results could also provide a brain-based explanation for the growing use of rhythmic music in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and possibly guide development of enhanced therapies and diagnostic tests. This proposal addresses a critical, and difficult, open question within auditory cognitive neuroscience: Does motor activity play a causal role in beat perception and if so, what is that role? Establishing this would be a transformative breakthrough in our understanding of the perception of time. While there is strong existing evidence that motor regions are active during beat perception, the dynamic functioning and interaction among parts of the cortical network supporting beat perception is not fully understood. In particular, a causal role of motor activity on auditory processing has not yet been demonstrated directly. This program of research directly examines whether motor planning regions influence processing in auditory cortex and whether a dynamic network is activated during beat perception. To achieve these objectives the investigators use two interlocking approaches: 1) Advanced quantitative methods of cortical source-resolved electroencephalographic (EEG) brain dynamics during beat perception tasks to identify regions in the brain whose activity patterns mirrors the endogenously perceived beat and to examine the directional flow of influence between these beat perception areas and other auditory processing areas; 2) Non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to transiently suppress and/or facilitate activity in beat perception areas.

对事件的节奏模式的感知是我们从语言和音乐的声音中找到意义的能力的核心：这是人类文化和交流的基础。我们不是被动地接受时间模式，而是积极地参与其中，通过使用重复的“脉冲”或“节拍”来形成我们对时间感知的基本框架。这种能力可能在通过跳舞或简单地随着音乐轻拍时表现得最为明显，但它对我们在没有动作的情况下如何理解声音有着更深层次的重要性。节拍循环提供的支架使听者能够预测即将发生的事件，允许更有效的编码和学习感觉模式。这个重要的感知机制是如何工作的？新的证据表明，声音的感知模式不仅取决于听觉系统，还涉及到运动系统的激活，即使听者没有移动。这个提议测试了一个具有挑衅性和潜在变革性的想法，即运动规划活动不仅帮助我们移动，而且对于我们听到的声音模式的感知也是必要的。这项研究在教育和医学方面都有许多潜在的社会效益。对节奏感知背后的听觉-运动相互作用的理解可以解释越来越多的发现，这些发现表明节奏感知和语言之间存在重要联系，包括儿童阅读的发展、噪音中的言语感知和注意力，并可能有助于推动改进的教育干预。研究结果还可以为越来越多地使用有节奏的音乐治疗帕金森病等运动障碍提供基于大脑的解释，并可能指导改进疗法和诊断测试的发展。这一提议解决了听觉认知神经科学中一个关键而困难的开放性问题：运动活动是否在节拍感知中起因果作用，如果有，那是什么作用？建立这一点将是我们对时间感知的理解的一个变革性突破。虽然有强有力的现有证据表明运动区域在节拍感知过程中是活跃的，但支持节拍感知的皮层网络部分之间的动态功能和相互作用尚未完全了解。特别是，运动活动对听觉加工的因果作用尚未得到直接证明。这个研究项目直接检查运动规划区域是否影响听觉皮层的加工，以及在节拍感知过程中是否激活了一个动态网络。为了实现这些目标，研究人员使用了两种相互关联的方法：1)在节拍感知任务期间，皮质源解析脑电图（EEG）脑动力学的先进定量方法，以识别大脑中反映内源性感知节拍的活动模式的区域，并检查这些节拍感知区域与其他听觉处理区域之间的定向流影响；2)无创经颅磁刺激（TMS）可短暂抑制和/或促进热感区域的活动。