Investigating Neural Dynamics Between Conductor and Pianist During Live Music Performance
Discipline: Neuroscience
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics
Session: 1
Room: Gallery Place
Nanki Chugh - Rice University
Co-Author(s): Amy Lam, Rice University, TX; Anthony Brandt, Rice University, TX; Jose Contreras-Vidal, University of Houston, TX
Background: Neural synchrony is a window into shared experiences and social interactions: it suggests that brains are behaving similarly, offering insights into group coordination and cohesion. Collaborative music-making provides a rich opportunity to study inter-brain neural synchrony of complex cognitive functions in a real-world setting. To that end, we studied neural dynamics in the world premiere of Anthony Brandt’s Diabelli 200, a work for piano and chamber ensemble. Both conductor and pianist wore neuro-imaging equipment during the rehearsals and live performances. Hypothesis: In this study, we began to investigate the neural basis of social interaction between conductor and pianist by testing the hypothesis that musicians share common sources of brain activation during 90 seconds of continuous play. Methods: 28-channel electroencephalography (EEG) and 4-channel electrooculography (EOG) data was synchronized with audio and collected from conductor and pianist during five rehearsals and two live performances of Diabelli 200. EEG recordings were pre-processed to remove visual and motion artifacts. Clean EEG data from 90 seconds of continuous play during five rehearsals was analyzed using source localization tools from the MATLAB toolbox EEGLAB to identify sources of brain activation in both conductor and pianist. Results: We identified some similar brain sources and others that differed between pianist and conductor. Visual and motor areas (Brodmann Areas 19 and 4) represent shared sources of activation between conductor and pianist during musical activity. Notably, Brodmann area 10, associated with planning and decision-making, was activated in the conductor, while Brodmann area 5 (somatosensory region), associated with touch perception, was activated in the pianist. Conclusions: Overall, our findings suggest that while the musicians share higher-level functionalities like vision and motion, they also present specific differences, likely due to their contrasting roles in music-making. Future research is warranted to identify temporal moments of neural synchrony or desynchrony between conductor and pianist. For example, a future goal will be to target precise moments of musical synchrony, or “cues” in the musical score, for improved assessment of neural synchrony. References: Contreras-Vidal, J. L., Pacheco, M., Huber, D. & Moreno, M. A. R. Brain on dance (2022). Delorme, A. & Makeig, S. Eeglab: An open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial eeg dynamics including independent component analysis. J. Neurosci. Methods 134, 9-21, 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2003.10.009 (2004). Ramírez-Moreno, Mauricio A., et al. “Brain-to-Brain Communication during Musical Improvisation: A Performance Case Study.” F1000Research, vol. 11, 2022, p. 989, 10.12688/f1000research.123515.1 (2022).
Funder Acknowledgement(s): I would like to thank Dr. Contreras-Vidal and Dr. Brandt for their mentorship. Funding was provided by IUCRC BRAIN award #2137255 to JCV and NIH/NICHD R25HD106896 to PJP and JCV.
Faculty Advisor: Jose Contreras-Vidal, jlcontr2@Central.UH.EDU
Role: I developed the research question, and cleaned and analyzed the data. I created a pre-preprocessing pipeline using Matlab and the EEGLAB toolbox to clean the data. I then completed source localization for analysis.