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Embodying melody through a conducting baton: a pilot comparison between musicians and non-musicians

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Abstract

Finger-tapping tasks have been widely adopted to investigate auditory-motor synchronization, i.e., the coupling of movement with an external auditory rhythm. However, the discrete nature of these movements usually limits their application to the study of beat perception in the context of isochronous rhythms. The purpose of the present pilot study was to test an innovative task that allows investigating bodily responses to complex, non-isochronous rhythms. A conductor’s baton was provided to 16 healthy subjects, divided into 2 different groups depending on the years of musical training they had received (musicians or non-musicians). Ad hoc-created melodies, including notes of different durations, were played to the subjects. Each subject was asked to move the baton up and down according to the changes in pitch contour. Software for video analysis and modelling (Tracker®) was used to track the movement of the baton tip. The main parameters used for the analysis were the velocity peaks in the vertical axis. In the musician group, the number of velocity peaks exactly matched the number of notes, while in the non-musician group, the number of velocity peaks exceeded the number of notes. An exploratory data analysis using Poincaré plots suggested a greater degree of coupling between hand–arm movements and melody in musicians both with isochronous and non-isochronous rhythms. The calculated root mean square error (RMSE) between the note onset times and the velocity peaks, and the analysis of the distribution of velocity peaks in relationship to note onset times confirmed the effect of musical training. Notwithstanding the small number of participants, these results suggest that this novel behavioural task could be used to investigate auditory-motor coupling in the context of music in an ecologically valid setting. Furthermore, the task may be used for rhythm training and rehabilitation in neurological patients with movement disorders.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Linear® s.r.l. for the precious help with this study. We also thank Roberto Lupo for his support during the study design.

Funding

This work was partially funded by the H2020/ICT European project CONBOTS (“CONnected through roBOTS: physically coupling humans to boost handwriting and music learning”, Grant Agreement no. 871803, call topic ICT-09-2019-2020).

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Author notes

  1. Andrea Costantino and Nicola Di Stefano authors with equal contribution.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Sleep Surgery Team UCBM, Unit of Otolaryngology - Integrated Therapies in Otolaryngology, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Costantino & Manuele Casale

  2. Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Nicola Di Stefano

  3. FAST, Institute of Philosophy of Scientific and Technological Practice, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy

    Nicola Di Stefano & Flavio Keller

  4. Advanced Robotics and Human-Centred Technologies - CREO Lab, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy

    Fabrizio Taffoni

  5. Research Unit of Neurophysiology and Neuroengineering of Human-Technology Interaction (NeXTlab), Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni Di Pino

  6. Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience and Neural Plasticity, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy

    Flavio Keller

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  1. Andrea Costantino
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Contributions

AC: study design, data collection and analysis, manuscript development, review of final manuscript. NDS: study design, review of final manuscript. FT: data analysis, review of final manuscript. GDP: manuscript development, review of final manuscript. MC: study design, review of final manuscript. FK: study design, music composition, data analysis, manuscript development, review of final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Andrea Costantino or Flavio Keller.

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All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of University Campus Bio-Medico (Prot: 11.19 TS ComEt-CBM 08/2019).

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Consent for the publication of this study was obtained from both participants and the Ethical Committee of University Campus Bio-Medico.

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Communicated by Francesco Lacquaniti.

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Costantino, A., Di Stefano, N., Taffoni, F. et al. Embodying melody through a conducting baton: a pilot comparison between musicians and non-musicians. Exp Brain Res 238, 2279–2291 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05890-z

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