Mu-rhythm desynchronisation demonstrates action representation in pianists during passive listening of piano melodies
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1
The University of Auckland, School of Psychology, New Zealand
Efficient sensorimotor integration is essential for music performance. Musicians undergo extensive training which enhances established neural links between auditory and motor areas of the brain. Long-term training develops, strengthens and enables flexibility in these connections allowing proficiency in performance. Previous research has indicated that passive listening of trained music can result in the recruitment of premotor areas, even after short-term training. This suggests that such mappings can be specific, and can rapidly become automatic. It has been argued that these mappings rely on activity in mirror neuron systems (involved generally in imitating and learning actions), and has also been suggested that these systems are heavily dependent on actual sensorimotor experience. Action-observation studies in this field using electroencephalography (EEG) have associated changes in mu-rhythm activity with the mirror neuron system in the visuomotor domain. We utilized this method in our action-listening study to detect involuntary motor coactivation when pianists passively listened to piano melodies. Wavelet analysis revealed sensorimotor mu-rhythm desynchronisation while pianists listened passively to piano melodies. Thus, this spectral analysis method can also be used to demonstrate that auditory stimuli can activate the human mirror neuron system when sounds are linked to actions. The same analysis method will be utilised to examine mu-rhythm changes due to short-term musical training. We will next investigate whether similar motor coactivation during passive listening occurs specifically for newly acquired sound-action mappings after training.
Keywords:
Music neuroscience,
mu-rhythm,
audiomotor,
EEG Oscillations,
human mirror neurons
Conference:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Other
Citation:
Wu
C,
Lim
V,
Hamm
J and
Kirk
I
(2012). Mu-rhythm desynchronisation demonstrates action representation in pianists during passive listening of piano melodies.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00113
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Received:
25 Oct 2012;
Published Online:
07 Nov 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Carolyn Wu, The University of Auckland, School of Psychology, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand, c.carolynwu@gmail.com