Revealing rhythm categorization in human brain activity
(2024) Science advances — (2024)
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- Humans across cultures show an outstanding capacity to perceive, learn, and produce musical rhythms. These skills rely on mapping the infinite space of possible rhythmic sensory inputs onto a finite set of internal rhythm categories. What are the brain processes underlying rhythm categorizaFon? We used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain acFvity as human parFcipants listened to a conFnuum of rhythmic sequences characterized by repeaFng paVerns of two inter-onset intervals. Using frequency and representaFonal similarity analyses, we show that brain acFvity does not merely track the temporal structure of rhythmic inputs, but, instead, automaFcally produces categorical representaFon of rhythms. Surprisingly, despite this automaFcity, these rhythm categories do not arise in the earliest stages of the ascending auditory pathway, but show strong similarity between implicit neural and overt behavioral responses. Together, these results and methodological advances consFtute a criFcal step towards understanding the biological roots and diversity of musical behaviors across cultures.
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Barbero, F., Lenc, T., Jacoby, N., Polak, R., Varlet, M., & Nozaradan, S. (2024). Revealing rhythm categorization in human brain activity. Science advances. Published. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu9838 (Original work published 2024)