White matter structural bases for phase accuracy during tapping synchronization
- National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
Abstract
We determined the intersubject association between the rhythmic entrainment abilities of human subjects during a synchronization-continuation tapping task (SCT) and the macro- and microstructural properties of their superficial (SWM) and deep (DWM) white matter. Diffusion-weighted images were obtained from 32 subjects who performed the SCT with auditory or visual metronomes and five tempos ranging from 550 to 950 ms. We developed a method to determine the density of short-range fibers that run underneath the cortical mantle, interconnecting nearby cortical regions (U-fibers). Notably, individual differences in the density of U-fibers in the right audiomotor system were correlated with the degree of phase accuracy between the stimuli and taps across subjects. These correlations were specific to the synchronization epoch with auditory metronomes and tempos around 1.5 Hz. In addition, a significant association was found between phase accuracy and the density and bundle diameter of the corpus callosum, forming an interval-selective map where short and long intervals were behaviorally correlated with the anterior and posterior portions of the corpus callosum. These findings suggest that the structural properties of the SWM and DWM in the audiomotor system support the tapping synchronization abilities of subjects, as cortical U-fiber density is linked to the preferred tapping tempo and the bundle properties of the corpus callosum define an interval-selective topography.
Data availability
Data is available at OSF: https://osf.io/ynvf3/?view_only=0f30de38694a4ce38f69807dd07c1604
Article and author information
Author details
Pamela Garcia-Saldivar
Funding
Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencia y Tecnologia (A1-S-8330)
- Hugo Merchant
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (PAPIIT IG200424)
- Hugo Merchant
Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnología. Ciudad de México (2342)
- Hugo Merchant
Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencia y Tecnologia (C1782)
- Luis Concha
Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencia y Tecnologia (FC-218-2023)
- Luis Concha
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (PAPIIT AG200117)
- Luis Concha
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (PAPIIT AG200117)
- Luis Concha
Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IN213423)
- Luis Concha
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (280464)
- Pamela Garcia-Saldivar
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: Thirty-two healthy human subjects without musical training volunteered to participate and gave informed consent, which complied with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by our Institutional Review Board. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Neurobiology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla with the number 049H-RM.
Copyright
© 2024, Garcia-Saldivar et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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White matter structural bases for phase accuracy during tapping synchronization
eLife 13:e83838.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83838
