Action Representation of Sound: Audiomotor Recognition Network While Listening to Newly Acquired Actions

Abstract

The discovery of audiovisual mirror neurons in monkeys gave rise to the hypothesis that premotor areas are inherently involved not only when observing actions but also when listening to action-related sound. However, the whole-brain functional formation underlying such "action-listening" is not fully understood. In addition, previous studies in humans have focused mostly on relatively simple and overexperienced everyday actions, such as hand clapping or door knocking. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to ask whether the human action-recognition system responds to sounds found in a more complex sequence of newly acquired actions. To address this, we chose a piece of music as a model set of acoustically presentable actions and trained non-musicians to play it by ear. We then monitored brain activity in subjects while they listened to the newly acquired piece. Although subjects listened to the music without performing any movements, activation was found bilaterally in the frontoparietal motor-related network (including Broca's area, the premotor region, the intraparietal sulcus, and the inferior parietal region), consistent with neural circuits that have been associated with action observations, and may constitute the human mirror neuron system. Presentation of the practiced notes in a different order activated the network to a much lesser degree, whereas listening to an equally familiar but motorically unknown music did not activate this network. These findings support the hypothesis of a "hearing-doing" system that is highly dependent on the individual's motor repertoire, gets established rapidly, and consists of Broca's area as its hub.

Expert players accurately detect an opponent’s movement intentions through sound alone.

“…Through practice, it is hypothesised that the processing of task-relevant kinematic patterns (observed, heard, and/or performed) of the action is enriched and consolidated (Gallese, 2000). In keeping with the supramodal brain theory, the kinematic pattern created by the action resonates in the perceiver's own motor system whether the sound is seen or heard (Aglioti & Pazzaglia, 2010Cesari et al, 2014;Kohler et al, 2002;Lahav et al, 2007;Pizzamiglio et al, 2005;Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). Although this account is consistent with our findings, the actual neural processes supporting pick-up and use of information about another person's action through sound is in need of further investigation.…”

Dynamics of brain activity underlying working memory for music in a naturalistic condition

“…Music is ubiquitous, a human feature, as ancient as homo sapiens, deeply rooted in our biology, with a seemingly distinct and extensive functional neuroarchitecture, capable of inducing vivid, intense emotions, all of which makes it an appealing phenomenon to study different areas of human nature. Sensory-motor mechanisms can be also studied using music since they activate not only when performing, but also when listening to it (Lahav, Saltzman, & Schlaug, 2007;Zatorre, Chen, & Penhune, 2007;Haueisen & Knösche, 2001). …”

Experience-based priming of body parts: A study of action imitation

“…Calvo-Merino et al, 2005;Lahav et al, 2007). If the development of imitation, and the mirror neuron system, is instead experience-dependent, then it may draw on three kinds of experience: unimodal sensory (Ferrari et al, 2005), unimodal motor (Calvo-Merino et al, 2006) or sensorimotor experience (Heyes, 2001;Heyes et al, 2005;Keysers and Perrett, 2004;Lahav et al, 2007;Obayashi et al, 2001).…”

“…Järveläinen et al (2004) found that the degree of primary motor cortex activation when observing actions involving chopsticks correlated with the amount of recent experience with using chopsticks. Furthermore, highly familiar actions activate human premotor cortex more than non-familiar actions (Grezes et al, 1998), and in musically naïve observers activation in mirror areas is elicited by the observation of guitar playing which they are required to imitate (Buccino et al, 2004;Vogt et al, 2007), and by hearing sequences of tones which they had learned to play on the piano (Lahav et al, 2007).…”