Shared neural resources of rhythm and syntax: An ALE Meta-Analysis

Description: These are the results from an ALE analysis performed in 2017 to compare the neural resources recruited by musical rhythm and linguistic syntax. Rhythm engaged a bilateral sensorimotor network throughout the brain consisting of the inferior frontal gyri, supplementary motor area, superior temporal gyri/temporoparietal junction, insula, the intraparietal lobule, and putamen. By contrast, syntax mostly recruited the left sensorimotor network including the inferior frontal gyrus, posterior superior temporal gyrus, premotor cortex, and supplementary motor area. Intersections between rhythm and syntax maps yielded overlapping regions in the left inferior frontal gyrus, left supplementary motor area, and bilateral insula, with more pronounced involvement of the supplementary motor area for syntactic movement and reanalysis.