Neural entrainment is strongest to the spectral flux of slow music and depends on familiarity and beat salience

Weineck, K.; Wen, O. X.; Henry, M. J.

doi:10.1101/2021.11.29.470396

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.11.29.470396

Neural entrainment is strongest to the spectral flux of slow music and depends on familiarity and beat salience

Weineck, K.·Wen, O. X.·Henry, M. J.

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Abstract

Neural activity in the auditory system synchronizes to sound rhythms, and brain-environment synchronization is thought to be fundamental to successful auditory perception. Sound rhythms are often operationalized in terms of the sounds amplitude envelope. We hypothesized that - especially for music - the envelope might not best capture the complex spectro-temporal fluctuations that give rise to beat perception and synchronized neural activity. This study investigated 1) neural synchronization to different musical features, 2) tempo-dependence of neural synchronization, and 3) dependence of synchronization on familiarity, enjoyment, and ease of beat perception. In this electroencephalography study, 37 human participants listened to tempo-modulated music (1-4 Hz). Independent of whether the analysis approach was based on temporal response functions (TRFs) or reliable components analysis (RCA), the spectral flux of music - as opposed to the amplitude envelope - evoked strongest neural synchronization. Moreover, music with slower beat rates, high familiarity, and easy-to-perceive beats elicited the strongest neural response. Our results demonstrate the importance of spectro-temporal fluctuations in music for driving neural synchronization, and highlight its sensitivity to musical tempo, familiarity, and beat salience.

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Weineck, K., Wen, O. X., Henry, M. J.. 2021-11-30. Neural entrainment is strongest to the spectral flux of slow music and depends on familiarity and beat salience. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.29.470396

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