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Sensorimotor Synchronization and Neural Entrainment to Imagined Rhythms in Individuals With Proficient Imagery
Simon Andrew Whitton1, Benjamin Sreenan1, Canhuang Luo1,2
1Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Journal of Neuroscience Research
|September 17, 2024
Summary
Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) performance relies on auditory imagery when visual cues are absent. Proficient imagers struggle with auditory distractions, indicating complex sensory interactions in motor coordination.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Human Motor Control
- Sensory Integration
Background:
- Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) involves coordinating movements with stimuli.
- Auditory and tactile stimuli generally yield better SMS than visual stimuli.
- Auditory imagery vividness can enhance visual-based SMS, particularly in continuation tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of mental imagery in sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) for proficient imagers.
- To examine how auditory or visual distractor tasks during the continuation phase affect SMS performance.
- To explore the neural mechanisms underlying SMS with different distractor modalities.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed a synchronization-continuation task with auditory or visual rhythm cues.
- Auditory or visual distractor tasks were introduced during the continuation phase.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) were used to measure neural and sub-vocal activity.
Main Results:
- Auditory distractors significantly impaired SMS consistency, while visual distractors had minimal effect.
- Beat-related neural entrainment was observed only during distractor conditions.
- During auditory distraction, occipital neural entrainment and three-beat pattern frequency entrainment (neural and sub-vocal) were detected, suggesting complex imagery use.
Conclusions:
- Proficient imagers utilize beat- and pattern-related imagery strategies, but these are insufficient to overcome auditory distraction during SMS continuation.
- Auditory distractors disrupt SMS more than visual distractors, highlighting modality-specific interference.
- Neural entrainment patterns suggest visual imagery involvement even with auditory distraction, indicating cross-modal imagery utilization.
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