Groove on the brain: rhythmic complexity and predictive coding
Musical rhythm has a remarkable capacity to move our minds and bodies. I will describe how the theory of predictive coding can be used as a framework for understanding how rhythm and rhythmic complexity are processed in the brain. This theory posits a hierarchical organization of brain responses reflecting fundamental, survival-related mechanisms associated with predicting future events. I review empirical studies of the neural and behavioral effects of syncopation, polyrhythm and groove, and propose how these studies can be seen as special cases of the PC theory. Overall, musical rhythm exploits the brain’s general principles of prediction and that the pleasure and desire for sensorimotor synchronization from musical rhythm could be a result of such mechanisms.