When rhythm moves us: how the brain processes language and music

Video coming soon

6. July 2026
PD Dr. Johanna Rimmele
Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik

Language and music are fundamental parts of our everyday lives. They shape communication and social interactions and make a significant contribution to our well-being and mental health. When listening to music, it is the rhythm in particular that prompts our bodies to move. This highlights the close link between the auditory and motor systems. In fact, the motor system is activated not only during active movement, but also whilst passively listening to speech or music. Furthermore, rhythm is associated with improved recall of linguistic content, possibly through interactions between the brain’s motor, reward and memory systems. Interestingly, people differ in the extent to which their motor system is activated when listening to sounds. In her lecture, Dr Rimmele presented several studies which used behavioural measurements, computer-based modelling approaches, as well as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG), to investigate how the individual degree of motor system recruitment relates to the perception and memory of language and music.