Mathematical framework explores how the brain keeps a beat

A new mathematical model demonstrates how neurons in the brain could work together to learn and keep a musical beat. The framework, developed by Amitabha Bose of New Jersey Institute of Technology and Aine Byrne and John Rinzel of New York University, is described in PLOS Computational Biology.

Many experimental studies have established which brain areas are active when a person listens to music and discerns a beat. However, the neuronal mechanisms underlying the brain's ability to learn a beat -- and then keep it after the music stops -- are unknown. Bose and his colleagues set out to explore what these neuronal mechanisms might be.

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