Dynamic acoustic salience evokes motor responses

We show cross-correlations between 1) salience ratings and acoustic features, 2) acoustic features and spontaneous muscle activity, and 3) salience ratings and spontaneous muscle activity. Amplitude, intensity, and spectral centroid were perceived as the most salient features in music, and fluctuations in these features evoked involuntary peripheral muscle responses. Our results suggest an involuntary mechanism for audio-motor integration, which may rely on brainstem-spinal or brainstem-cerebellar-spinal pathways.

Based on these results, we argue that a new framework is needed to explain the full range of human sensorimotor capabilities. This goal can be achieved by considering how predictive and reactive audio-motor integration mechanisms could operate independently or interactively to optimize human behavior.