Extracting the Beat: An Experience-dependent Complex Integration of Multisensory Information Involving Multiple Levels of the Nervous System
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Date
2009-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Empirical Musicology Review
Abstract
In a series of studies we have shown that movement (or vestibular
stimulation) that is synchronized to every second or every third beat of a metrically
ambiguous rhythm pattern biases people to perceive the meter as a march or as a
waltz, respectively. Riggle (this volume) claims that we postulate an "innate",
"specialized brain unit" for beat perception that is "directly" influenced by vestibular
input. In fact, to the contrary, we argue that experience likely plays a large role in the
development of rhythmic auditory-movement interactions, and that rhythmic
processing in the brain is widely distributed and includes subcortical and cortical
areas involved in sound processing and movement. Further, we argue that vestibular
and auditory information are integrated at various subcortical and cortical levels
along with input from other sensory modalities, and it is not clear which levels are
most important for rhythm processing or, indeed, what a "direct" influence of
vestibular input would mean. Finally, we argue that vestibular input to sound
location mechanisms may be involved, but likely cannot explain the influence of
vestibular input on the perception of auditory rhythm. This remains an empirical
question for future research.
Description
Keywords
rhythm, meter, vestibular, experience-dependent, multi-sensory, sound location
Citation
Empirical Musicology Review, v4 n1 (January 2009), 32-36