Biology subjects

Penhune, V. B.

Publications and source records attributed to Penhune, V. B..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Mu suppression reveals auditory-motor predictions after short motor training in non-musicians

Auditory-motor coupling is a bidirectional neural mechanism that supports speech and music, with evidence of motor system activation during passive listening to both spoken language and learned melodies. Such activation is anticipatory, occurs in non-musicians, and can be elicited at the single-note level. These findings support the idea that motor activity guides auditory perception by relaying predictive timing information. However, the neural processes underlying this activity are not fully understood. EEG studies in musicians have linked it to mu-band suppression, but the temporal scale and the generalizability to the broader population remain unclear. We recruited 25 non-musicians who learned to play a simple melody on a piano-like keyboard. Before and after training, participants passively listened to the trained melody and control melodies. Offline, EEG data from the motor training were used to create a time-frequency mask with which to identify mu suppression occurring during passive listening. Significant mu suppression emerged before each note only during post-training exposure to the practiced melody. Results suggest that mu suppression occurs at the single-note level following short motor training and is not dependent on prior musical experience. Our findings support the notion that motor activity aids perception by anticipating the unfolding of learned auditory-motor sequences.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Behavioral Evidence for Two Modes of Attention

Attention modulates sensory gain to select and optimize the processing of behaviorally relevant events. It has been hypothesized that attention can operate in either a rhythmic or continuous mode, depending on the nature of sensory stimulation. Despite this conceptual framework, direct behavioral evidence has been scarce. Our study explores when attention operates in a rhythmic mode through a series of nine interrelated behavioral experiments with varying stream lengths, stimulus types, attended features, and tasks. The rhythmic mode optimally operates at approximately 1.5 Hz and is prevalent in perceptual tasks involving long (> 7 s) auditory streams. Our results are supported by a model of coupled oscillators, illustrating that variations in the systems noise level can induce shifts between continuous and rhythmic modes. Finally, the rhythmic mode is absent in syllable categorization tasks. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence for two modes of attention and defines their conditions of operation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

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

The pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM) elicits activity in motor and reward areas of the brain and is thought to be driven by predictive processes. Dopamine within motor and limbic cortico-striatal networks is implicated in the predictive processes underlying beat-based timing and music-induced pleasure, respectively. This suggests a central role of cortico-striatal dopamine in PLUMM. This study tested this hypothesis by comparing PLUMM in Parkinsons disease patients, healthy age-matched, and young controls. Participants listened to musical sequences with varying rhythmic and harmonic complexity (low, medium, 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 relation between rhythmic complexity and ratings, with a preference for medium complexity rhythms, while age-matched controls showed a similar, but weaker, inverted U-shaped response. Conversely, PD patients 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. Together, these results support the role of dopamine within cortico-striatal networks in the predictive processes that form the link between the perceptual processing of rhythmic patterns, and the affective and motor responses to rhythmic music.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Effector-independent brain network for auditory-motor integration: fMRI evidence from singing and cello playing

Many everyday tasks share high-level sensory goals but differ in the movements used to accomplish them. One example of this is musical pitch regulation, where the same notes can be produced using the vocal system or a musical instrument controlled by the hands. Cello playing has previously been shown to rely on brain structures within the singing network for performance of single notes, except in areas related to primary motor control, suggesting that the brain networks for auditory feedback processing and sensorimotor integration may be shared (Segado et al. 2018). However, research has shown that singers and cellists alike can continue singing/playing in tune even in the absence of auditory feedback (Chen et al. 2013, Kleber et al. 2013), so different paradigms are required to test feedback monitoring and control mechanisms. In singing, auditory pitch feedback perturbation paradigms have been used to show that singers engage a network of brain regions including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula (aINS), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) when compensating for altered pitch feedback, and posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and supramarginal gyrus (SMG) when ignoring it (Zarate et al. 2005, 2008). To determine whether the brain networks for cello playing and singing directly overlap in these sensory-motor integration areas, in the present study expert cellists were asked to compensate for or ignore introduced pitch perturbations when singing/playing during fMRI scanning. We found that cellists were able to sing/play target tones, and compensate for and ignore introduced feedback perturbations equally well. Brain activity overlapped for singing and playing in IPS and SMG when compensating, and pSTG and dPMC when ignoring; differences between singing/playing across all three conditions were most prominent in M1, centered on the relevant motor effectors (hand, larynx). These findings support the hypothesis that pitch regulation during cello playing relies on structures within the singing network and suggests that differences arise primarily at the level of forward motor control. HighlightsO_LIExpert cellists were asked to compensate for or ignore introduced pitch perturbations when singing/playing during fMRI scanning. C_LIO_LICellists were able to sing/play target tones, and compensate for and ignore introduced feedback perturbations equally well. C_LIO_LIBrain activity overlapped for singing and playing in IPS and SMG when compensating, and pSTG and dPMC when ignoring. C_LIO_LIDifferences between singing/playing across were most prominent in M1, centered around the relevant motor effectors (hand, larynx) C_LIO_LIFindings support the hypothesis that pitch regulation during cello playing relies on structures within the singing network with differences arising primarily at the level of forward motor control C_LI

neuroscience↗