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How and when auditory action effects impair motor performance

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Abstract

Music performance is characterized by complex cross-modal interactions, offering a remarkable window into training-induced long-term plasticity and multimodal integration processes. Previous research with pianists has shown that playing a musical score is affected by the concurrent presentation of musical tones. We investigated the nature of this audio-motor coupling by evaluating how congruent and incongruent cross-modal auditory cues affect motor performance at different time intervals. We found facilitation if a congruent sound preceded motor planning with a large Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA −300 and −200 ms), whereas we observed interference when an incongruent sound was presented with shorter SOAs (−200, −100 and 0 ms). Interference and facilitation, instead of developing through time as opposite effects of the same mechanism, showed dissociable time-courses suggesting their derivation from distinct processes. It seems that the motor preparation induced by the auditory cue has different consequences on motor performance according to the congruency with the future motor state the system is planning and the degree of asynchrony between the motor act and the sound presentation. The temporal dissociation we found contributes to the understanding of how perception meets action in the context of audio-motor integration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DSBTA, Human Physiology Section, University of Ferrara, via Fossato di Mortara 17/19, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    Alessandro D’Ausilio

  2. ECONA, Interuniversity Centre for Research on Cognitive Processing in Natural and Artificial Systems, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Alessandro D’Ausilio, Riccardo Brunetti, Franco Delogu, Cristina Santonico & Marta Olivetti Belardinelli

  3. Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Franco Delogu & Marta Olivetti Belardinelli

  4. Università Europea di Roma, Via Aldobrandeschi 190, 00163, Rome, Italy

    Riccardo Brunetti

Authors
  1. Alessandro D’Ausilio
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  2. Riccardo Brunetti
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  3. Franco Delogu
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  4. Cristina Santonico
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  5. Marta Olivetti Belardinelli
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Correspondence to Alessandro D’Ausilio.

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D’Ausilio, A., Brunetti, R., Delogu, F. et al. How and when auditory action effects impair motor performance. Exp Brain Res 201, 323–330 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-2044-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-2044-6

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