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Neural Entrainment to the Rhythmic Structure of Music

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Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
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Adam Tierney at Birkbeck, University of London
Adam Tierney
Nina Kraus
Nina Kraus
Nina Kraus
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Abstract and Figures

The neural resonance theory of musical meter explains musical beat tracking as the result of entrainment of neural oscillations to the beat frequency and its higher harmonics. This theory has gained empirical support from experiments using simple, abstract stimuli. However, to date there has been no empirical evidence for a role of neural entrainment in the perception of the beat of ecologically valid music. Here we presented participants with a single pop song with a superimposed bassoon sound. This stimulus was either lined up with the beat of the music or shifted away from the beat by 25% of the average interbeat interval. Both conditions elicited a neural response at the beat frequency. However, although the on-the-beat condition elicited a clear response at the first harmonic of the beat, this frequency was absent in the neural response to the off-the-beat condition. These results support a role for neural entrainment in tracking the metrical structure of real music and show that neural meter tracking can be disrupted by the presentation of contradictory rhythmic cues.
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Neural Entrainment to the Rhythmic Structure of Music
Adam Tierney and Nina Kraus
Abstract
■The neural resonance theory of musical meter explains
musical beat tracking as the result of entrainment of neural
oscillations to the beat frequency and its higher harmonics. This
theory has gained empirical support from experiments using
simple, abstract stimuli. However, to date there has been no
empirical evidence for a role of neural entrainment in the
perception of the beat of ecologically valid music. Here we
presented participants with a single pop song with a super-
imposed bassoon sound. This stimulus was either lined up with
the beat of the music or shifted away from the beat by 25% of
the average interbeat interval. Both conditions elicited a neural
response at the beat frequency. However, although the on-the-
beat condition elicited a clear response at the first harmonic of
the beat, this frequency was absent in the neural response to
the off-the-beat condition. These results support a role for neural
entrainment in tracking the metrical structure of real music and
show that neural meter tracking can be disrupted by the pre-
sentation of contradictory rhythmic cues. ■
INTRODUCTION
Temporal patterns in music are organized metrically, with
stronger and weaker beats alternating. This alternation
takes place on multiple timescales, resulting in a complex
sequence of stronger and weaker notes. Position within
the metrical hierarchy affects how listeners perceive
sounds; strong metrical positions are associated with
higher goodness-of-fit judgments and enhanced duration
discrimination (Palmer & Krumhansl, 1990). The musical
beat is perceived where strong positions at multiple time-
scales coincide, although individual differences exist in
the scale at which listeners perceive the beat (Iversen
& Patel, 2008; Drake, Jones, & Baruch, 2000).
Metrical processing begins early in life: Brain responses
to rhythmic sounds in newborn infants are modulated by
each soundʼs position in the metrical hierarchy (Winkler,
Haden, Ladinig, Sziller, & Honing, 2009). Metrical per-
ception is, therefore, a fundamental musical skill, and as
such there have been numerous attempts to model how
listeners track metrical structure. An influential model
proposes a bank of neural oscillators entraining to the
beat (Velasco & Large, 2011; Large, 2000, 2008; Van Noorden
& Moelants, 1999; Large & Kolen, 1994), resulting in saliency
oscillating on multiple timescales (Barnes & Jones, 2000;
Large & Jones, 1999). This model is supported by work
showing that beta oscillations are modulated at the rate
of presentation of rhythmic stimuli (Fujioka, Trainor,Large,
& Ross, 2012), possibly reflecting auditory–motor cou-
pling, as well as work showing enhanced perceptual dis-
crimination and detection when stimuli are aligned with
a perceived beat (Bolger, Trost, & Schön, 2013; Miller,
Carlson, & McAuley, 2013; Escoffier, Sheng, & Schirmer,
2010; McAuley & Jones, 2003; Jones, Moynihan, MacKenzie,
& Puente, 2002; Barnes & Jones, 2000).
There is, however, no direct evidence for neural en-
trainment to metrical structure in real music. (We define
“neural entrainment”in this paper as phase-locking of
neural oscillations to the rhythmic structure of music.)
Most investigations of the neural correlates of rhythm pro-
cessing have used simple stimuli such as tone sequences
and compared evoked responses to stimuli in strong and
weak metrical positions. Studies of simple stimuli have
found that strong metrical percepts are associated with
larger evoked potentials and higher-amplitude evoked
and induced beta and gamma oscillations (Schaefer, Vlek,
& Desain, 2011; Vlek, Gielen, Farquhar, & Desain, 2011;
Fujioka, Zendel, & Ross, 2010; Geiser, Sandmann, Jäncke,
& Meyer, 2010; Abecasis, Brochard, del Río, Dufour, &
Ortiz, 2009; Iversen, Repp, & Patel, 2009; Ladinig, Honing,
Háden, & Winkler, 2009; Potter, Fenwick, Abecasis, &
Brochard, 2009; Winkler et al., 2009; Pablos Martin et al.,
2007; Abecasis, Brochard, Granot, & Drake, 2005; Snyder
& Large, 2005; Brochard, Abecasis, Potter, Ragot, & Drake,
2003). Studies of simple stimuli have also demonstrated
neural entrainment to a perceived beat and its harmonics
(Nozaradan, Peretz, & Mouraux, 2012; Nozaradan, Peretz,
Missal, & Mouraux, 2011). Furthermore, a recent study
has shown that alignment with the beat of real, ecologically
valid music modulates evoked responses to a stimulus
(Tierney & Kraus, 2013a) such that on-the-beat stimuli
elicit larger P1 responses; however, this result can either
be attributed to enhancement of processing of the target
stimulus or to neural tracking of the beat of the music.
Thus, no study to date has demonstrated neural entrain-
ment to the rhythmic structure of real music.
Northwestern University
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27:2, pp. 400–408
doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00704
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Full-text available
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A zenei tevékenységek számos pozitív transzferhatásuk mellett örömforrást is jelentenek. Az iskolai zenei képességfejlesztés elsősorban az ének-zene órákon történik, mely az általános zenei műveltség megalapozásának fő színtere. Az ének-zene órák kínálnak tehát alkalmat minden gyermekeknek ahhoz, hogy a zenei ismeretek elsajátítása, valamint az esztétikai érzékük finomodása mellett a ritmus és mozgás összekapcsolásával a felszabadultság, az öröm érzését élhessék át. Ugyanakkor tapasztalatunk alapján a hazai ének-zene oktatás gyakorlata, módszertana a ritmusjátékokkal való összevetés alapján nagyobb hangsúlyt helyez az énekes zenei tevékenységekre, inkább éneklésközpontú. Szintén az iskolai ének-zene órákon nyílhat lehetőség arra is, hogy a tanulók a zenét és a zenei tevékenységeket megkedveljék, azonban a korábbi vizsgálatok alapján az ének-zene órák nem tartoznak a kedvelt tanórák közé. Kutatásunk fókuszában a ritmikai készségek fejlődés-vizsgálata áll első és második osztályos tanulók körében. Ennek részeként megvizsgáljuk a hagyományos – nem emelt óraszámban ének-zenét tartalmazó – tanterv szerint tanuló gyermekek ritmikai készségfejlődésének jellemzőit az általános iskola első két évfolyamán. Kutatásunk második része a ritmikai készségek – osztálytermi körülmények között megvalósuló – játékos fejlesztési lehetőségeire vonatkozik. A ritmikai készségek hatékony fejlesztésének lehetőségét, illetve a ritmikai játékok rendszeres gyakorlásának az ének-zene tantárgyi attitűdre gyakorolt hatásait két kísérlettel vizsgáltuk első osztályos tanulók körében. Két, szisztematikus felépítésű, egy tanév során megvalósítható, rendszeres fejlesztésen alapuló programot alakítottunk ki. Olyan módszereket alkalmaztunk, amelyek lehetővé teszik a tanterv által előírt tananyag elsajátítását az ének-zene oktatás heti két óra időtartamában, könnyen alkalmazhatók, mindemellett elősegíthetik a ritmikai készségek hatékony fejlesztését. Fejlesztőprogramunk létrehozásának célja – a várható ritmikai készségfejlődés mellett – az is, hogy módszertani segítséget nyújtsunk az ének-zenét tanító alsós tanítóknak, akik munkájukhoz ezáltal egy rendszerezett, kibővült eszköztárat kaphatnak. Longitudinális vizsgálatunk eredményei alapján a ritmikai készségeket reprezentáló auditív ritmikai képesség szignifikáns, mérsékelt ütemű, lassuló intenzitású fejlődést mutat az általános iskola első két évében. Kimutattuk, hogy a ritmusészlelés és a ritmusreprodukció készségei eltérő mértékben fejlődnek a vizsgált évfolyamokon. Az auditív ritmikai képesség fejlődési jellemzőit, szerkezetének változásait faktoranalízissel tártuk fel. Eredményeink az általános iskola első két évében a ritmikai készségek folyamatos átrendeződését jelzik, a második évben pedig a tempóészlelés készségének stabilizálódására következtethetünk. Első kísérletünk eredményei azt mutatják, hogy a ritmikai játék-feladatbank alkalmazása a kísérleti csoportban (n=141) nem befolyásolta a kontrollcsoportnál (n=117) szignifikánsan nagyobb mértékben a képességek fejlődését, ugyanakkor kis mértékben hozzájárult az alacsony fejlettségű tanulók felzárkózásához. A fejlesztőprogram sikeresen elősegítette az ének-zene tantárgy iránti pozitív attitűd kialakulását, hozzájárulva a kísérleti csoportban a kontrollcsoportnál szignifikánsan pozitívabb attitűdhöz. Második kísérletünkben, az intenzív ritmikai fejlesztőprogram alkalmazása eredményeként a kísérleti csoport (n=90) szignifikánsan magasabb fejlődést ért el minden vizsgált zenei képesség terén, mint a kontrollcsoport (n=128). Az intenzív ritmikai fejlesztőprogramot alkalmazó kísérleti csoport tanulói szignifikánsan jobban kedvelték az ének-zene órákat, mint a kontrollcsoport tanulói. Longitudinális vizsgálatunk és két első osztályos tanulók körében végzett kísérletünk alátámasztja a korábbi kutatási eredményeket, mely szerint a 6-8 éves kor a ritmikai készségek fejlődésének szenzitív időszaka. Emellett azt is kimutattuk, hogy a ritmikai készségek első osztályban jelentős mértékben fejleszthetők a tanórába integrált intenzív és rendszeres ritmikai fejlesztés alkalmazásával. Musical activities, in addition to their many positive transfer effects, are also a source of joy. The development of musical skills at school takes place primarily in music lessons, which are the main stage for the foundation of general musical literacy. Therefore, school music lessons offer all children the opportunity to experience the feeling of freedom and joy by connecting rhythm and movement, acquiring musical knowledge, and refining their aesthetic sense. At the same time, based on our experience, the practice and methodology of Hungarian music education in elementary schools put more emphasis on singing musical activities, and less on rhythmic activities. School music lessons can also provide opportunities for students to like music and musical activities more, however, based on previous studies, music lessons are not one of the most popular lessons in Hungary. In our research, we aimed to examine the development of rhythmic skills among first and second-grade students. In a longitudinal study, we examined the characteristics of the rhythmic skill development of children studying according to the traditional curriculum in the first two grades of elementary school (n=205). Our two other experimental studies concern the playful development possibilities of rhythmic skills in classroom conditions, in which we examined the possibility of effective development of rhythmic skills and the effects of regular practice of rhythmic games on the attitude towards music lessons (n1=258, n2=218). Based on our longitudinal study results, the auditory rhythmic ability which represents rhythmic skills shows a significant, moderate development with a slowing intensity in the first two years of elementary school. We have shown also that rhythm perception and rhythm reproduction develop to a different degree in the examined grades. The developmental characteristics of the auditory rhythmic ability and the changes in its structure were revealed by factor analysis. In the first two years of elementary school, our results show a continuous reorganization of rhythmic skills and in the second year, we can conclude that the ability to perceive tempo stabilizes. The results of our first experiment show that the application of the first rhythmic development program did not affect the development of abilities in the experimental group (n=141) to a significantly greater extent than in the control group (n=117), but at the same time, it slightly helped the students with low development to catch up. The development program was successful in promoting a positive attitude toward music lessons, contributing to a significantly more positive attitude in the experimental group than in the control group. As a result of our second experiment, the application of an intensive rhythmic development program, the experimental group (n=90) achieved significantly higher development in all tested musical abilities than the control group (n=128). The students of the experimental group using the intensive rhythmic development program liked the music lessons significantly more than the students of the control group. Our longitudinal study and two experiments conducted in first grade support the previous research results, according to which the age of 6–8 is a sensitive period for the development of rhythmic skills. In addition, we have also shown that rhythmic skills can be significantly improved in the first grade with intensive and regular development integrated into the lesson.
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Chimeric music reveals an interaction of pitch and time in electrophysiological signatures of music encoding
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  • Nov 2024
Pitch and time are the essential dimensions defining musical melody. Recent electrophysiological studies have explored the neural encoding of musical pitch and time by leveraging probabilistic models of their sequences, but few have studied how the features might interact. This study examines these interactions by introducing “chimeric music,” which pairs two distinct melodies, and exchanges their pitch contours and note onset-times to create two new melodies, thereby distorting musical pattern while maintaining the marginal statistics of the original pieces’ pitch and temporal sequences. Through this manipulation, we aimed to dissect the music processing and the interaction between pitch and time. Employing the temporal response function (TRF) framework, we analyzed the neural encoding of melodic expectation and musical downbeats in participants with varying levels of musical training. Our findings revealed differences in the encoding of melodic expectation between original and chimeric stimuli in both dimensions, with a significant impact of musical experience. This suggests that the structural violation due to decoupling the pitch and temporal structure affect expectation processing. In our analysis of downbeat encoding, we found an enhanced neural response when participants heard a note that aligned with the downbeat during music listening. In chimeric music, responses to downbeats were larger when the note was also a downbeat in the original music that provided the pitch sequence, indicating an effect of pitch structure on beat perception. This study advances our understanding of the neural underpinnings of music, emphasizing the significance of pitch-time interaction in the neural encoding of music. Significance Statement Listening to music is a complex and multidimensional auditory experience. Recent studies have investigated the neural encoding of pitch and timing sequences in musical structure, but they have been studied independently. This study addresses the gap in understanding of how the interaction between pitch and time affects their encoding. By introducing “chimeric music,” which decouples these dimensions in melodies, we investigate how this interaction influences the neural activities using EEG. Leveraging and the temporal response function (TRF) framework, we found that structural violations in pitch-time interactions impact musical expectation processing and beat perception. These results advance our knowledge of how the brain processes complex auditory stimuli like music, underscoring the critical role of pitch and time interactions in music perception.
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Sensorimotor Synchronization and Neural Entrainment to Imagined Rhythms in Individuals With Proficient Imagery Ability
Article
  • Sep 2024
  • J NEUROSCI RES
Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) is the temporal coordination of motor movements with external or imagined stimuli. Finger‐tapping studies indicate better SMS performance with auditory or tactile stimuli compared to visual. However, SMS with a visual rhythm can be improved by enriching stimulus properties (e.g., spatiotemporal content) or individual differences (e.g., one's vividness of auditory imagery). We previously showed that higher self‐reported vividness of auditory imagery led to more consistent synchronization–continuation performance when participants continued without a guiding visual rhythm. Here, we examined the contribution of imagery to the SMS performance of proficient imagers , including an auditory or visual distractor task during the continuation phase. While the visual distractor task had minimal effect, SMS consistency was significantly worse when the auditory distractor task was present. Our electroencephalography analysis revealed beat‐related neural entrainment, only when the visual or auditory distractor tasks were present. During continuation with the auditory distractor task, the neural entrainment showed an occipital electrode distribution, suggesting the involvement of visual imagery. Unique to SMS continuation with the auditory distractor task, we found neural and sub‐vocal (measured with electromyography) entrainment at the three‐beat pattern frequency. In this most difficult condition, proficient imagers employed both beat‐ and pattern‐related imagery strategies. However, this combination was insufficient to restore SMS consistency to that observed with visual or no distractor task. Our results suggest that proficient imagers effectively utilized beat‐related imagery in one modality when imagery in another modality was limited.
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Mental Representations for Musical Meter
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 1990
Investigations of the psychological representation for musical meter provided evidence for an internalized hierarchy from 3 sources: frequency distributions in musical compositions, goodness-of-fit judgments of temporal patterns in metrical contexts, and memory confusions in discrimination judgments. The frequency with which musical events occurred in different temporal locations differentiates one meter from another and coincides with music-theoretic predictions of accent placement. Goodness-of-fit judgments for events presented in metrical contexts indicated a multileveled hierarchy of relative accent strength, with finer differentiation among hierarchical levels by musically experienced than inexperienced listeners. Memory confusions of temporal patterns in a discrimination task were characterized by the same hierarchy of inferred accent strength. These findings suggest mental representations for structural regularities underlying musical meter that influence perceiving, remembering, and composing music.
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Resonance in the Perception of Musical Pulse
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 1999
A number of phenomena related to the perception of isochronous tone sequences peak at a certain rate (or tempo) and taper off at both slower and faster rates. In the present paper we start from the hypothesis that the peaking finds its origin in the presence of a damped resonating oscillator in the perceptual-motor system. We assume that for pulse perception only the 'effective' resonance curve matters, i.e., the enhancement of the amplitude of the oscillator beyond the critical damping. On the basis of the effective resonance curve, analyses have been made of data of Vos (1973) on subjective rhythmization and of data on tapping along isochronous tone sequences (Parncutt, 1994) and polyrhythmic sequences (Handel & Oshinsky, 1981). The results show that these data can be very well approximated with the proposed model. The best results are obtained with a resonance period of 500-550 ms and a width at half height of about 400-800 ms. A comparison is made with a number of other tempo related phenomena. In the second part a preliminary effort is made to determine the distribution of perceived tempi of musical pieces heard on the radio and in recordings of several styles, by having a number of listeners tapping along these pieces. The resonance curve appears to be a good tool to characterize these distributions.
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Human auditory steady state potentials (research article)
Article
Full-text available
  • Mar 1984
The auditory steady state potentials may be an important technique in objective audiometry. The effects of stimulus rate, intensity, and tonal frequency on these potentials were investigated using both signal averaging and on-line Fourier analysis. Stimulus presentation rates of 40 to 45/sec result in a 40 Hz sinusoidal response which is about twice the amplitude of the 10 and 60/sec responses. No significant effects of subject age or sex were seen. The 40/sec response shows a linear decrease in amplitude and a linear increase in latency when stimulus intensity is decreased from 90 to 20 dB normal hearing level. This response is recordable to within a few decibels of behavioral threshold. Stimuli of different tonal frequency give similar amplitude/rate functions, with absolute amplitude decreasing with increasing tonal frequency. Signal averaging and Fourier analysis provide nearly identical amplitude/rate, amplitude/intensity, and latency/intensity functions. Both methods of analysis may be used, therefore, to record the 40 Hz steady state potential. Fourier analysis, however, may be the faster and less expensive method. Furthermore, techniques ("zoom") are available with Fourier analysis to study the effects of varying stimulus parameters on-line with the Fourier analysis procedure.
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Perception and Production of Syncopated Rhythms
Article
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Abstract The cognitive strategies by which humans process complex, metrically-ambiguous rhythmic patterns remain poorly understood. We investigated listeners' abilities to perceive, process and produce complex, syncopated rhythmic patterns played against a regular sequence of pulses. Rhythmic complexity,was varied along a continuum; complexity,was quantified using an objective metric of syncopation suggested by Longuet-Higgins and Lee. We used a recognition memory,task to assess the immediate,and longer-term perceptual salience and memorability,of rhythmic,patterns. The tasks required subjects to (a) tap in time to the rhythms, (b) reproduce these same rhythm patterns given a steady pulse, and (c) recognize these patterns when replayed both immediately after the other tasks, and after a 24-hour delay. Subjects tended to reset the phase of their internally generated pulse with highly complex, syncopated rhythms, often pursuing a strategy of reinterpreting or "re-hearing" the rhythm as less syncopated. Thus, greater complexity in rhythmic stimuli leads to a reorganization of the cognitive representation of the temporal structure of events. Less complex rhythms,were also more,robustly encoded,into long-term memory,than more,complex,syncopated rhythms,in the delayed memory,task. 3
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Differential Brain Response to Metrical Accents in Isochronous Auditory Sequences
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Even within equitonal isochronous sequences, listeners report perceiving differences among the tones, reflecting some grouping and accenting of the sound events. In a previous study, we explored this phenomenon of �subjective rhythmization� physiologically through brain event-related potentials (ERPs). We found differences in the ERP responses to small intensity deviations introduced in different positions of isochronous sequences, even though all sound events were physically identical. These differences seemed to follow a binary pattern, with larger amplitudes in the response elicited by deviants in odd-numbered than in even-numbered positions. The experiments reported here were designed to test whether the differences observed corresponded to a metrical pattern, by using a similar design in sequences of a binary (long-short) or a ternary (long-short-short) meter. We found a similar pattern of results in the binary condition, but a significantly different pattern in the ternary one. Importantly, the amplitude of the ERP response was largest in positions corresponding to strong beats in all conditions. These results support the notion of a binary default metrical pattern spontaneously imposed by listeners, and a better processing of the first (accented) event in each perceptual group. The differences were mainly observed in a late, attention-dependent component of the ERPs, corresponding to rather high-level processing.
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Chapter 8. Music Training for the Development of Reading Skills
Article
  • Dec 2013
The beneficial effects of musical training are not limited to enhancement of musical skills, but extend to language skills. Here, we review evidence that musical training can enhance reading ability. First, we discuss five subskills underlying reading acquisition-phonological awareness, speech-in-noise perception, rhythm perception, auditory working memory, and the ability to learn sound patterns-and show that each is linked to music experience. We link these five subskills through a unifying biological framework, positing that they share a reliance on auditory neural synchrony. After laying this theoretical groundwork for why musical training might be expected to enhance reading skills, we review the results of longitudinal studies providing evidence for a role for musical training in enhancing language abilities. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that musical training can provide an effective developmental educational strategy for all children, including those with language learning impairments.
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