Topography of Functional Organization of Beat Perception in Human Premotor Cortex: Causal Evidence From a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Study

Humans can flexibly extract a regular beat from complex rhythmic auditory patterns, as often occurs in music. Contemporary models of beat perception suggest that the premotor cortex (PMC) and the supplementary motor area (SMA) are integral to this process. However, how these motor planning regions actively contribute to beat perception, along with any potential hemispheric specialization, remains open questions. Therefore, following the validation of stimuli in a behavioral experiment (Experiment I, N = 29, 12 males, mean age = 23.8 ± 0.7 years), we employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to test the causal contribution of these regions to beat perception. In Experiment II (N = 40, 16 males, mean age = 23.2 ± 2.37 years), we applied online repetitive TMS (rTMS) over a defined grid encompassing the right rostral and caudal dPMC, SMA, and pre-SMA, and a sham control location. Results showed that stimulation of the caudal portion of right dPMC selectively affected beat perception compared to all other regions. In Experiment III (preregistered, N = 42, 17 males, mean age = 23.5 ± 2.61 years), we tested the lateralization of this contribution by applying rTMS over right and left caudal dPMC. Our results showed that only stimulation over right, but not left, dPMC modulated beat perception. Finally, across all three experiments, individual differences in musical reward predicted beat perception sensitivity. Together, these results support the causal role of the right dPMC in generating internal action predictions and perceptual expectations regarding ongoing sequential events, in line with recent models emphasizing the role of the dorsal auditory stream in beat-based temporal perception. These findings offer valuable insights into the functional organization of the premotor cortex, contributing to a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in human rhythm perception.