Mental operations in rhythm: Motor-to-sensory transformation mediates imagined singing.

ABSTRACT: What enables the mental activities of thinking verbally or humming in our mind? We hypothesized that the interaction between motor and sensory systems induces speech and melodic mental representations, and this motor-to-sensory transformation forms the neural basis that enables our verbal thinking and covert singing. Analogous with the neural entrainment to auditory stimuli, participants imagined singing lyrics of well-known songs rhythmically while their neural electromagnetic signals were recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We found that when participants imagined singing the same song in similar durations across trials, the delta frequency band (1-3 Hz, similar to the rhythm of the songs) showed more consistent phase coherence across trials. This neural phase tracking of imagin

SUBMITTER: Li Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7561264 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature