Action expertise reduces brain activity for audiovisual matching actions: An fMRI study with expert drummers

Abstract

When we observe someone perform a familiar action, we can usually predict what kind of sound that action will produce. Musical actions are over-experienced by musicians and not by non-musicians, and thus offer a unique way to examine how action expertise affects brain processes when the predictability of the produced sound is manipulated. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan 11 drummers and 11 age- and gender-matched novices who made judgments on point-light drumming movements presented with sound. In Experiment 1, sound was synchronized or desynchronized with drumming strikes, while in Experiment 2 sound was always synchronized, but the natural covariation between sound intensity and velocity of the drumming strike was maintained or eliminated. Prior to MRI scanning, each participant completed psychophysical testing to identify personal levels of synchronous and asynchronous timing to be used in the two fMRI activation tasks. In both experiments, the drummers' brain activation was reduced in motor and action representation brain regions when sound matched the observed movements, and was similar to that of novices when sound was mismatched. This reduction in neural activity occurred bilaterally in the cerebellum and left parahippocampal gyrus in Experiment 1, and in the right inferior parietal lobule, inferior temporal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and precentral gyrus in Experiment 2. Our results indicate that brain functions in action-sound representation areas are modulated by multimodal action expertise.

The influence of motor expertise on the brain activity of motor task performance: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

“…Compared with novices, motor experts showed activity change in motor areas (e.g., Baeck et al, 2012), areas related to attentional processes (Petrini et al, 2011;Seo et al, 2012), areas involved in episodic retrieval during motor task performance , and subcortical areas related to motor control, such as putamen (Baeck et al, 2012;Landau & D'esposito, 2006), caudate (Landau & D'esposito, 2006;Kim et al, 2011;Wright et al, 2011), and thalamus Landau & D'esposito, 2006). Although these findings have confirmed the influence of motor experience on the brain activity of motor task performance, the pattern of functional reorganization (i.e., the combination of activity increase and decrease) is still unclear.…”

“…These increases in activity have been found in task-specific areas such as primary and secondary sensory or motor cortex (e.g., Baeck et al, 2012), posterior parietal cortex related to motor planning (e.g., Calvo-Merino, Glaser, Grèzes, Passingham, & Haggard, 2005;Kim et al, 2011;Stout, Passingham, Frith, Apel, & Chaminade, 2011), and lateral temporal cortex associated with the storage of those representations (e.g., Calvo-Merino et al, 2005). Practice-induced activity decreases, on the other hand, could happen in the brain areas related to cognitive control or attentional processes, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Petrini et al, 2011) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (e.g., Seo et al, 2012). These decreases in activity may reflect a more efficient use of specific neural circuits or the automation of task performance (Garavan, Kelley, Rosen, Rao, & Stein, 2000).…”

“…Several recent studies have found that compared with novices, motor experts showed reduced brain activity in the ventral and dorsal premotor cortex, supplementary motor area (SMA), superior parietal lobule (SPL), anterior cingulate cortex, basal ganglia, and cerebellum during motor tasks, and this may suggest enhanced brain functions in motor performance (e.g., Balser et al, 2014;Chang et al, 2011;Haslinger et al, 2004;Milton et al, 2007;Pau, Jahn, Sakreida, Domin, & Lotze, 2013;Petrini et al, 2011;Wright, Bishop, Jackson, & Abernethy, 2010). For instance, Milton et al (2007) investigated the motor planning of expert golfers during pre-shot routine.…”

“…The authors suggested that experts have developed a focused and efficient organization of task-related brain network through intensive training, whereas novices still need more resource to inhibit irrelevant information efficiently. Petrini et al (2011) investigated the brain activation of audio-visual processing (e.g., drumming) in drummers and novices. The results showed that when sound matched the observed movements, drummers indicated reduced activation in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG), right precentral gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule (IPL), right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), left parahippocampal gyrus, and cerebellum.…”

Beyond Vision: Extending the Scope of a Sensorimotor Account of Perception

“…Experiments have been carried out to investigate vision -action -sound brain functions using fMRI technology [26]. In observing a familiar action that produces a sound, such as drumming, we can usually predict the sound, but when the natural synchronization was disrupted this had a measurable effect.…”