Involuntary, Limited, and Contiguously Repeating Musical Imagery (InLaCReMI): Reconciling Theory and Data on the Musical Material Acquired by Earworms

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Abstract

“Earworms” have been proposed as a particular type of involuntary musical imagery (INMI) where musical material is repeated in the mind. The structure of the repetition is investigated by proposing a spreading activation model (SAM), where mental experience consists of priming and activation of nodes that represent objects, events, and relationships, including music. Music consists of chaining together nodes representing small music segments within hierarchical structures. Listening to music at a point in time activates the music's represented segment, which then primes the node representing the segment that follows. Repeating musical segments are coded recursively, with an additional layer of “context” nodes tracking global, structural location. From this basis, two hypotheses were proposed: H1 “Contiguous repetition at encoding” and H2 “Low environmental focus.” H1 predicts that when an INMI episode is a contiguously repeating segment, it must be based on music that contains contiguous repetition: it will be perceived as a subset of INMI – involuntary, limited, and contiguously repeating musical imagery (InLaCReMI). H1 challenges current views about preferred segments for looping, such as the “hook” of a tune. H2 predicts that InLaCReMI occurs when an individual is not focused on the immediate environment. In such a state there is less social imperative to activate high attentional-demand contextual information and so adherence to contextual integrity in thought is relaxed, leading to looping of recurrently activated nodes that were encoded with contiguous repetition. Additional predictions were made using SAM, demonstrating the potential for SAM to provide a unifying understanding of INMI. InLaCReMI is proposed as a frequently occurring species of INMI and confirmation of this phenomenon through more structured empirical investigation will provide novel insights into mental operation, and the nature of INMI.

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The brain's default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease.

Randy L. Buckner, Jessica Andrews-Hanna, Daniel Schacter (2008)

Thirty years of brain imaging research has converged to define the brain's default network-a novel and only recently appreciated brain system that participates in internal modes of cognition. Here we synthesize past observations to provide strong evidence that the default network is a specific, anatomically defined brain system preferentially active when individuals are not focused on the external environment. Analysis of connectional anatomy in the monkey supports the presence of an interconnected brain system. Providing insight into function, the default network is active when individuals are engaged in internally focused tasks including autobiographical memory retrieval, envisioning the future, and conceiving the perspectives of others. Probing the functional anatomy of the network in detail reveals that it is best understood as multiple interacting subsystems. The medial temporal lobe subsystem provides information from prior experiences in the form of memories and associations that are the building blocks of mental simulation. The medial prefrontal subsystem facilitates the flexible use of this information during the construction of self-relevant mental simulations. These two subsystems converge on important nodes of integration including the posterior cingulate cortex. The implications of these functional and anatomical observations are discussed in relation to possible adaptive roles of the default network for using past experiences to plan for the future, navigate social interactions, and maximize the utility of moments when we are not otherwise engaged by the external world. We conclude by discussing the relevance of the default network for understanding mental disorders including autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.