Abstracts Psychology

Neural and behavioral indices of auditory-motor integration during music perception and production

by Brian Mathias

A growing body of research suggests that the perception and production of complex auditory signals such as music and speech is fundamentally anticipatory: Listeners generate future-oriented expectations for upcoming sounds during perception, and producers generate future-oriented plans for upcoming movements during production. The role of interactions between auditory and motor systems in anticipatory processing during perception and production, and the neural indices of these influences, are unknown. This thesis hypothesizes that, when a sensorimotor stimulus has been learned by production, the motor system generates plans for upcoming events during subsequent perception, and the auditory system generates expectations for upcoming events during subsequent production. This hypothesis is investigated using electroencephalography methods in the context of music perception and production, which are common anticipatory behaviors. Roles of auditory-motor integration in anticipatory processing are investigated in three empirical studies. The first study investigated whether performing music can enhance memory and expectations during subsequent listening to that music. This study revealed that motor networks contribute to enhanced recognition of expectancy violations in music that has been learned by performance. The second study investigated whether performing music can alter sensory and cognitive expectations for musical pitch during subsequent listening. This study revealed that production learning diminishes the extent to which listeners generate sensory and cognitive expectations during subsequent listening. The third study investigated whether planning during music performance can influence the perception of concurrent pitch feedback. This study revealed that disruptive effects of altered auditory feedback on performance are linked to future-oriented planning processes. Together, these studies support the hypothesis that motor plans and auditory expectations work in association to anticipate upcoming events during music perception and production. Effects of auditory-motor integration on anticipatory processing can take place rapidly (within 200 ms) following acoustic onsets, and anticipatory processes during perception and production take into account previously learned auditory-motor associations. Un nombre croissant de recherches suggère que la perception et la production de signaux auditifs complexes tels que la musique et la parole sont fondamentalement anticipatoire: Les auditeurs génèrent des attentes orientées vers l'avenir pour les sons à venir lors de la perception, et les producteurs génèrent des plans orientés vers l'avenir pour les mouvements à venir lors de la production. Le rôle des interactions entre les systèmes auditifs et moteurs dans le traitement anticipatoire pendant la perception et la production, et les indices neuraux de ces influences, sont inconnus. Cette thèse hypothèse que, quand un stimulus sensori-moteur a été appris par la production, le système moteur génère des plans pour les… Advisors/Committee Members: Caroline Palmer (Supervisor).