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 sound’s 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 synchronize neural activity. This study investigated 1) neural entrainment to different musical features, 2) tempo-dependence of neural entrainment, and 3) dependence of entrainment 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 entrainment. Moreover, music with slower beat rates, high familiarity, and easy-to-perceive beats elicited the strongest neural response. Based on the TRFs, we could decode music stimulation tempo, but also perceived beat rate, even when the two differed. Our results demonstrate the importance of accurately characterizing musical acoustics in the context of studying neural entrainment, and demonstrate entrainment’s sensitivity to musical tempo, familiarity, and beat salience.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
