Neural Basis of Processing Temporal Structure in Music

维诺德·梅农博士在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的资助下，与其在麦吉尔大学（McGill University）的合作者丹尼尔·列维京博士（Daniel Levitin）正在研究人类大脑如何处理音乐中的时间结构。他的工作扩展到研究一般模式感知的神经基础。他的项目旨在扩展早期在与音乐处理相关的重要理论问题上有前途的工作。研究方法包括行为测量和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）。该项目考虑到，仅仅知道手术发生在大脑的哪个部位并不一定有用。然而，目前的一系列研究是以这样一种方式设计的，即了解大脑中处理的位置可能会阐明更有趣的问题，即大脑正在处理什么，以及这种处理是如何发生的。来自神经解剖学研究的证据可以为认知理论提供信息和约束。Menon博士的项目建立在他之前的观察基础上，即额叶下皮层（IFC）的Brodmann 47区负责音乐、口语和手语的处理结构。这提出了一个有趣的可能性，即这个区域实例化了一个通用的“时间组织模块”。因此，该研究的具体目标是：(1)将他之前的音乐结构研究扩展到一个新的研究对象组，以便(a)获得更精确的时间处理功能定位，(b)研究IFC和颞叶对熟悉和不熟悉音乐的反应和连接的异同；(2)操纵音乐刺激中存在的期望水平，努力为IFC所服务的句法操作提供额外的证据；(3)检查音调和节奏结构的变化对IFC和听觉皮层的大脑反应和连通性的不同影响。研究结果将与心智功能模块化理论、时间一致性理论、模式感知理论、音乐认知理论和大脑组织理论相关。这项研究将有助于理解支持人类音乐和听觉感知和认知的神经结构。更广泛的影响包括学生的积极参与，包括本科生、博士和博士后学者。这个项目是多学科的，汇集了两组不同的研究人员，一组受过经典认知心理学的训练，另一组受过认知神经科学和脑成像的训练。研究结果有助于更好地理解神经和精神疾病的前额叶和颞叶皮层功能障碍。

Dr. Vinod Menon, with funding from the National Science Foundation, and with his collaborator at McGill University, Dr. Daniel Levitin, is studying how the temporal structure in music is processed in the human brain. His work extends to investigating the neural underpinnings of pattern perception in general. His project is designed to extend earlier promising work on important theoretical issues related to music processing. The research methods include behavioral measures and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The project takes into account that simply knowing where an operation occurs in the brain is not necessarily useful. The present series of investigations, however, is designed in such a way that knowing where processing occurs in the brain may elucidate the more interesting questions of what is being processed in the brain, and how this processing occurs. Evidence from neuroanatomical studies can inform and constrain theories of cognition. Dr. Menon's project builds on his previous observation that Brodmann Area 47 in the Inferior Frontal Cortex (IFC) is responsible for processing structure in music, as well as spoken and sign language. This raises the intriguing possibility that this region instantiates a general purpose "temporal organization module." Accordingly, the specific aims of the proposed research are to: (1) extend his previous musical structure study with a new group of subjects so as to (a) obtain a more precise localization of temporal processing functions and (b) investigate similarities and differences in IFC and temporal lobe response and connectivity for familiar and unfamiliar music; (2) Manipulate the level of expectation present in the musical stimuli, in an effort to provide additional evidence for the syntactic operations subserved by the IFC; and (3) Examine the differential effects of variation in pitch and rhythm structure on brain responses in, and connectivity of, the IFC and the auditory cortex. Findings will be relevant to theories of modularity of mental function, temporal coherence, pattern perception, music cognition, and brain organization. This research will contribute to understanding the neural architecture supporting music and auditory perception and cognition in humans.The broader impacts include strong involvement of students, including undergraduates, doctoral, and postdoctoral scholars. The project is multidisciplinary, bringing together two different groups of researchers, one trained in classical cognitive psychology, and the other trained in cognitive neuroscience and brain imaging.. Findings can help to better understand prefrontal and temporal cortex dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric disorders.