Name:April, Joyner

School/Affiliation:George Mason University

Co-Authors:Martin Wiener

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Short Bio:

April is a PhD student in the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience Program at George Mason University. She recently received her Master's Degree from the University of Mississippi in Spring 2024. She received her BA in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience from the University of Mississippi. Throughout her Master's Degree she studied how music listening impacts human memory processes. Her thesis focused on how music-induced physiological arousal influences spatial memory. Her research interests at GMU relate to differences between musicians and non-musicians in processing time using rhythm.

Abstract:

Previous work has shown that motor systems and rhythmic auditory processing are linked, such that motor system activation is coincident with auditory system activity while listening to music, suggesting an interaction between auditory and motor systems. Further, behavioral work has shown that inducing movement in a subject can lead to enhancement of auditory timing abilities. Yet, the neural correlates of this enhancement are not well understood. Here, we replicate and extend work by Manning and Schutz (2013) in which subjects tap along or passively listen to isochronous woodblock sequences, and then must detect if a final, delayed probe tone is aligned with the implied beat and explore the brain activity associated with this effect of movement using EEG. Data collected and analyzed from 20 participants show a significant correlation between 2Hz entrainment to the beat and the behavioral effect of on-time improvement, such that subjects who exhibit larger increases in entrainment while tapping than listening also exhibit a larger improvement in timing. Further, activity locked to the probe tone also demonstrated a larger amplitude P300 in the movement condition in comparison to the no movement condition. For response-locked activity during choice, the movement condition exhibited a significantly stronger readiness potential, suggesting greater certainty; relatedly, we found that subjects were also more confident on movement trials. Overall, these findings suggest an improvement in timing perception and processing, stronger entrainment to the beat, and faster target detection associated with movement.