Sensorimotor integration for vocal control of singing

• Applicant: Dr. Boris Kleber
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2009 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 134573215

In this project we plan to investigate the neural mechanisms of vocal control in singing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We propose to study the relative contribution of sensory modalities to sensorimotor interactions underlying vocal control by investigating neural activation maps during singing with and without selectively masked somatosensory and auditory feedback in a pitch reproduction task. We will assess if long-term training of singing skills results in substantial differences in sensorimotor integration compared to untrained controls; we will also examine this question in inaccurate singers who have unimpaired pitch discrimination as a way of understanding how these systems may become decoupled. In order to establish a causeeffect link between activation and behavior, we plan furthermore to suppress vocal somatosensory processing at cortical level in a subsequent TMS experiment during pitch reproduction and singing of a popular song. Dependent measures involve pitch height, pitch stability and pitch contour.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants