Université catholique de Louvain, 54 Avenue Hippocrate UCL B1.54.09, 1200, Brussels, Belgium.
Eur J Neurosci. 2017 Jun;45(11):1439-1450. doi: 10.1111/ejn.13349. Epub 2016 Aug 12.
Hearing a beat recruits a wide neural network that involves the auditory cortex and motor planning regions. Perceiving a beat can potentially be achieved via vision or even touch, but it is currently not clear whether a common neural network underlies beat processing. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test to what extent the neural network involved in beat processing is supramodal, that is, is the same in the different sensory modalities. Brain activity changes in 27 healthy volunteers were monitored while they were attending to the same rhythmic sequences (with and without a beat) in audition, vision and the vibrotactile modality. We found a common neural network for beat detection in the three modalities that involved parts of the auditory dorsal pathway. Within this network, only the putamen and the supplementary motor area (SMA) showed specificity to the beat, while the brain activity in the putamen covariated with the beat detection speed. These results highlighted the implication of the auditory dorsal stream in beat detection, confirmed the important role played by the putamen in beat detection and indicated that the neural network for beat detection is mostly supramodal. This constitutes a new example of convergence of the same functional attributes into one centralized representation in the brain.
听觉感知节拍会招募一个涉及听觉皮层和运动规划区域的广泛神经网络。节拍的感知可能通过视觉甚至触觉来实现，但目前尚不清楚是否存在一个共同的神经网络来进行节拍处理。在这里，我们使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 来测试参与节拍处理的神经网络在多大程度上是超模态的，也就是说，在不同的感觉模态中是否相同。当 27 名健康志愿者在听觉、视觉和振动触觉模式下关注相同的节奏序列（有节拍和无节拍）时，监测他们大脑活动的变化。我们发现三个模态中存在一个共同的节拍检测神经网络，该网络涉及听觉背侧通路的部分区域。在这个网络中，只有壳核和补充运动区（SMA）对节拍表现出特异性，而壳核的大脑活动与节拍检测速度相关。这些结果突出了听觉背侧流在节拍检测中的作用，证实了壳核在节拍检测中所起的重要作用，并表明节拍检测的神经网络主要是超模态的。这构成了大脑中相同功能属性集中到一个中心化表示的新范例。
