Emerick Marina, Hoddinott Joshua D, Grahn Jessica A
Centre for Brain and Mind, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2025 May 23;15(1):17891. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-02316-0.
Humans have an intrinsic tendency to move to the beat in music, yet the neural mechanisms behind the music-movement connection remain poorly understood. Most studies to date have been correlational. In this study, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to explore the causal role of four brain regions commonly involved in movement timing and beat perception: the supplementary motor area (SMA), the left and right premotor cortices (PMC), and the right cerebellum. Participants received anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation in one of the four regions on three separate days while reproducing strong-beat, weak-beat, and non-beat rhythms via finger tapping. Because the SMA is thought to play a central role in beat perception, while the premotor cortex and cerebellum are involved in general timing processes, we predicted that SMA stimulation would influence the reproduction of beat-based rhythms, while premotor and cerebellar stimulation would affect the reproduction of non-beat rhythms. As expected, reproduction accuracy depended on beat strength; strong-beat rhythms were more accurately reproduced than weak and non-beat rhythms. Unexpectedly, tDCS had no effect on reproduction accuracy in any brain region. Thus, we found no evidence that modulating brain excitability in SMA, PMC, or cerebellum altered the accuracy of rhythm reproduction.
人类天生就有随着音乐节奏摆动的倾向，然而音乐与动作之间联系背后的神经机制仍知之甚少。迄今为止，大多数研究都是相关性的。在本研究中，我们使用经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）来探究四个通常参与动作计时和节拍感知的脑区的因果作用：辅助运动区（SMA）、左右运动前皮质（PMC）以及右侧小脑。参与者在三天中的每一天分别在这四个区域之一接受阳极、阴极或伪刺激，同时通过手指敲击来重现强拍、弱拍和无节拍节奏。由于SMA被认为在节拍感知中起核心作用，而运动前皮质和小脑参与一般的计时过程，我们预测SMA刺激会影响基于节拍节奏的重现，而运动前皮质和小脑刺激会影响无节拍节奏的重现。正如预期的那样，重现准确性取决于节拍强度；强拍节奏比重拍和无节拍节奏更准确地被重现。出乎意料的是，tDCS对任何脑区的重现准确性均无影响。因此，我们没有发现证据表明调节SMA、PMC或小脑中的脑兴奋性会改变节奏重现的准确性。
