Description
Human rhythmic movement production in response to sound and music begins at a very young age. Yet, the underlying mechanism and how it affects rhythmic auditory processing is not fully understood. Previous studies have relied primarily on simple motor tasks, such as finger tapping, to investigate this mechanism. However, more ecologically valid whole-body movements are required for a comprehensive understanding. In this study, we combined electroencephalography (EEG) and motion tracking to examine the cortical auditory and motor regions involved in the production of different rhythmic movements, ranging from finger tapping to stepping. Using independent component analysis (ICA) and source localization, we successfully identified distinct auditory and motor components during localizer trials corresponding to movement type or sound. Our initial results demonstrate the feasibility of using EEG to study auditory-motor interactions during complex, whole-body movements. In future analyses steps, we will investigate how increased movement complexity affects auditory processing, reflected by changes in EEG spectral power fluctuations within the identified auditory components. We also aim to examine movement accuracy to the beat, focusing on how movement complexity influences synchronization and top-down information flow from motor to auditory regions. This study promises to advance our understanding of how our brain integrates auditory and motor information while listening and moving to sound and music in an ecologically relevant context.
| Names, affilations and contact information | Evangelia-Regkina Symeonidou: 1 Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 2 Institute for Medical Psychology, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; evagelia-regkina.symeonidou@ae.mpg.de; Molly J. Henry: 1 Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics; molly.henry@ae.mpg.de |
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| Bio | Dr. Evangelia-Regkina Symeonidou investigates brain dynamics related to motor control with a focus on improving motor function across the lifespan. She earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience from the University of Tübingen while conducting research at the University of Michigan and Florida. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Molly Henry studies how synchronization between brain and environmental rhythms shapes auditory perception, using psychophysical and electrophysiological methods. She earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Bowling Green State University and completed her postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. She led the Neural and Environmental Rhythms Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt. |