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

对时间上事件的节奏模式的感知是我们在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，而是通过使用重复的“脉冲”或“节拍”来积极地参与其中，以形成我们对时间感知的基本框架。这种能力在通过舞蹈或简单地用脚随着音乐敲击来表达时可能最为明显，但它对我们如何理解声音有更深层次的重要性，即使在没有运动的情况下。节拍周期提供的支架使听众能够预测即将发生的事件，从而更有效地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，还涉及运动系统的激活，即使听者没有移动。这项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有助于我们移动，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。理解节奏感知背后的节奏-运动相互作用可以解释越来越多的发现，这些发现表明节拍感知和语言之间存在重要联系，包括儿童阅读的发展，噪音中的语音感知和注意力，并可能有助于推动改进教育干预。研究结果还可以为越来越多地使用节奏音乐治疗帕金森病等运动障碍提供基于大脑的解释，并可能指导增强疗法和诊断测试的开发。这个提议解决了听觉认知神经科学中一个关键的、困难的、悬而未决的问题：运动活动在节拍感知中是否起着因果作用，如果是的话，这个作用是什么？确立这一点将是我们对时间感知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期间是活跃的，但支持节拍感知的皮质网络部分之间的动态功能和相互作用尚未完全理解。特别是，运动活动对听觉处理的因果作用尚未得到直接证明。该研究计划直接检查运动规划区域是否影响听觉皮层的处理，以及在节拍感知过程中是否激活了动态网络。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，皮层源分辨脑电图（EEG）脑动力学的高级定量方法，以识别其活动模式反映内源性感知节拍的脑区，并检查这些节拍感知区与其他听觉处理区之间的方向性影响流; 2）非侵入性经颅磁刺激（TMS），以暂时抑制和/或促进搏动感知区域中的活动。

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.