The Effects Of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Beat Perception And Motor Performance
Abstract
Humans have an intrinsic tendency to move to music. However, our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the music-movement connection remains limited, and most studies have used correlational methods. Here, we used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to causally investigate the role of four motor brain regions involved in movement timing and beat perception: the supplementary motor area (SMA), left and right premotor cortices (PMC), and cerebellum. Subjects were randomly assigned to a brain region to be stimulated and received anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation on three different days while they reproduced rhythmic sequences. The sequences had either a strong beat percept, weak beat percept, or no beat percept. We predicted that SMA stimulation would affect reproduction of strong beat rhythms, whereas PMC and cerebellar stimulation would affect reproduction of weak or non-beat rhythms. No difference in reproduction accuracy was found based on brain region or type of stimulation.