Intra- and interbrain synchronization and network properties when playing guitar in duets

Abstract

To further test and explore the hypothesis that synchronous oscillatory brain activity supports interpersonally coordinated behavior during dyadic music performance, we simultaneously recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) from the brains of each of 12 guitar duets repeatedly playing a modified Rondo in two voices by C.G. Scheidler. Indicators of phase locking and of within-brain and between-brain phase coherence were obtained from complex time-frequency signals based on the Gabor transform. Analyses were restricted to the delta (1–4 Hz) and theta (4–8 Hz) frequency bands. We found that phase locking as well as within-brain and between-brain phase-coherence connection strengths were enhanced at frontal and central electrodes during periods that put particularly high demands on musical coordination. Phase locking was modulated in relation to the experimentally assigned musical roles of leader and follower, corroborating the functional significance of synchronous oscillations in dyadic music performance. Graph theory analyses revealed within-brain and hyperbrain networks with small-worldness properties that were enhanced during musical coordination periods, and community structures encompassing electrodes from both brains (hyperbrain modules). We conclude that brain mechanisms indexed by phase locking, phase coherence, and structural properties of within-brain and hyperbrain networks support interpersonal action coordination (IAC).

Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization

“…These results also confirmed previous findings (26)(27)(28)34) that neural activity (as well as interactive communication behaviors) could be used to differentiate reliably the leaders from the followers. It is worth noting that different studies have found different earliest time points for successful discrimination based on neural activity: before the onset of the interactions in Sänger et al (26,27) and Konvalinka et al (34) and about half a minute into the interaction in our study. One possible explanation of these variations is that the time point for successful discrimination depends on how the leaders emerge.…”

“…One possible explanation of these variations is that the time point for successful discrimination depends on how the leaders emerge. In Sänger et al (26,27), leaders were assigned a priori; in Konvalinka et al (34), leaders emerged through a number of repeated trials; and, in the present study, leaders emerged during a single LGD task. Future research should specifically examine the role of neural activity or INS in predicting different types of leader emergence.…”

“…This approach is also termed "hyperscanning" and has proven to be promising in the field of social neuroscience (23)(24)(25). By using an EEG-based hyperscanning approach, recent evidence showed that, during guitar playing, the a priori-assigned leaders showed higher levels of delta-phase locking than did the followers and that INS from the leaders to the followers was stronger than that from the followers to the leaders (26,27). Evidence further showed implicit synchronization of both body movements and neural activity between a priori-assigned leaders and followers during social interactions (28).…”

Rhythm in joint action: psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms for real-time interpersonal coordination

“…Socially interactive tasks requiring temporal coordination are also associated with large pools of neurons oscillating coherently across co-acting individuals' brains. This phenomenon has been observed in dual-EEG studies employing diverse tasks requiring joint rhythmic behaviour, such as guitar duet performance [75][76][77], unconscious imitation of finger movements [78], explicit imitation of hand movements [79] and joint speech [80]. Dual-EEG set-ups provide a promising avenue for exploring the temporal dynamics of mechanisms supporting rhythmic joint action, though the complexity of such set-ups means that caution must be exercised to ensure that studies are conceptually and methodologically sound [81,82].…”

Frontal alpha oscillations distinguish leaders from followers: Multivariate decoding of mutually interacting brains

“…In addition to quantifying synchronized and symmetric brain-networks between brains, some dual-EEG studies have also shown asymmetric brain-coupling patterns between leader-follower participants of a dyad (Babiloni et al, 2007, Dumas et al, 2012, Sanger et al, 2012. This asymmetry has been reported either as functional connectivity (i.e.…”