Visual Sequence Encoding is Enhanced by Predictable Music Pairing via Modulating Medial Temporal Lobe and Its Connectivity with Frontostriatal Loops

Listening to music during cognitive activities, such as reading and studying, is very common in human daily life. Therefore, it is important to understand how music interacts with concurrent cognitive functions, particularly memory. Current literature has presented mixed results for whether music can benefit learning in other modalities. Evidence is needed for what neural mechanisms music can tap into to enhance concurrent memory processing. This fMRI study aimed to begin filling this gap by investigating how music of varying predictability levels influences parallel visual sequence encoding performance. Behavioral results suggest that overall, predictable music enhances visual sequential encoding, and this effect increases with the structural regularity and familiarity of music. fMRI results indicate that during visual sequence encoding, music activates traditional music-processing and motor-related areas, but decreases parahippocampal and striatal engagement. This deactivation may indicate a more efficient encoding of visual information when music is present. By comparing music conditions of different structural predictability and familiarity, we probed how this occurs. We demonstrate improved encoding with increased syntactical regularity, which was associated with decreased activity in default mode network and increased activity in inferior temporal gyrus. Furthermore, the temporal schema provided by music familiarity may influence encoding through altered functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal lobe and striatum. Overall, we propose that pairing music with learning might facilitate memory by reducing neural demands for visual encoding and simultaneously strengthening the connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and frontostriatal loops important for sequencing information. Significance StatementThere is considerable interest in what mechanisms can be tapped to improve human memory. Music provides a potential modulator, but few studies have investigated music effects on encoding episodic memory. This study used a novel design to examine how music can influence concurrent visual item sequence encoding. We provided neural data to better understand mechanisms behind potential benefits of music for learning. Our results demonstrated predictable music may help guide parallel learning of sequences in another modality. We found that music might facilitate processing in neural systems associated with visual declarative long-term and working memory, and familiar music might modulate reward circuits and provide a temporal schema which facilitates better encoding of the temporal structure of new non-music information.