Talk by Prof. Sylvie Nozaradan (UCLouvain Belgium)

Capturing neural categorization of musical rhythm: a brain that transforms sounds into periodic beats and more

Experiencing music often entails perceiving and moving along with a regular beat. However, the nature and neural underpinnings of beat perception remain largely unknown. The presentation will review a recent line of research investigating the neural basis of this perceptual phenomenon by capitalizing on electrophysiological recordings of brain activity conducted across the lifespan, species, senses and brain areas. Results provide converging evidence that beat perception involves processes that transform the rhythmic stimulus into a temporally recurrent format with emphasized beat periodicity. This transformation is observed at the earliest cortical stage of sound processing, namely in the primary auditory cortex, and is present in human adults and infants as well as non-human primates, although it cannot be explained by acoustic properties of the input or subcortical auditory processing. This "periodized" format may thus constitute a basis for further neural processes driving temporally coordinated musical behaviors. Current research is now investigating the plasticity of these brain processes allowing prior experience of culture and movement to imprint onto rhythm processing in humans. Finally, the presentation will open to a novel approach to capturing brain categorization of rhythm beyond periodic beats, as a promising perspective to address the brain bases of the universality yet diversity of musical rhythm specific to humans.

You  can attend online here. 

Sylvie Nozaradan, MD PhD, is Professor at the Institute of Neuroscience of UCLouvain, Belgium, and head of the Brussels-based Rhythm & Brains Lab. The team is sponsored by local, national and international funding bodies including an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council, and also the Australian Research Council (ARC), promoting collaborations within and outside Europe. Previously, Sylvie received an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, to develop her research independently at the MARCS Institute, Western Sydney University (Australia), with the mentorship of Pr. Peter Keller. Sylvie has a PhD degree in neuroscience from UCLouvain (supervisor: Pr. André Mouraux) and the BRAMS, Montreal, Canada (supervisor: Pr. Isabelle Peretz), where she investigated neural entrainment to musical rhythm. She has a dual background in music (Master in piano, Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Belgium) and science (medical doctor, UCLouvain).