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Dr. Sarah Chen
Stanford · NLP & interpretability
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Fairness + NLP projects overlap with her recent work.
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Takako Fujioka is a Professor of Music at Stanford University, with expertise in neural oscillations for auditory perception, auditory-motor coupling, brain plasticity in development and aging, and recovery from stroke with music-supported therapy. Her research explores the biological nature of human musical ability by examining brain activities through non-invasive human neurophysiological measures such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG). Her academic background includes a Ph.D. from the Department of Physiological Science at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, and her prior education comprises a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Waseda University. Her post-doctoral and research-associate work at Rotman Research Institute in Toronto was supported by awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her work continues to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying auditory perception and musical ability, contributing to our understanding of brain plasticity and rehabilitation through music therapy.
When musical rhythms contain simple integer-ratio intervals, listeners extract the underlying beat while understanding the rhythm in a hierarchical structure. We hypothesized that encoding of beat-level information pre-attentively may be influenced by the depth of hierarchy and its integration demands. We examined the mismatch negativity (MMN) during passive listening to rhythms containing a prime part and a subsequent part. Four primes with varied levels of hierarchical information, and in standard trials, the subsequent rhythm ended on the beat position, while in deviant trials, the final note occurred earlier by either an 8 th or 16 th note (50% or 25% of the standard IOI). While larger MMN was found for a larger temporal displacement, the effect of prime variation was also significant. Consistent with our hypothesis, the prime with the four 8 th notes elicited larger MMNs compared to the two 8 th and one quarter notes, indicating that the latter prime likely required increased processing demands at the beginning despite having the same subdivision level. Primes with increased subdivisions also tended to reduce behavioral detection accuracy. These results point to an interplay between sequential and hierarchical processes for beat-level encoding and rhythmic grouping.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the motor cortex has revolutionized the study of motor physiology in humans. Despite this, TMS-evoked electrophysiological responses show significant fluctuation, due in part to inconsistencies between TMS pulse timing and ongoing brain oscillations. Small or inconsistent responses to TMS limit mechanistic insights and clinical efficacy, necessitating the development of methods to precisely coordinate the timing of TMS pulses to the phase of relevant oscillatory activity. We introduce Sensory Entrained TMS (seTMS), a novel approach that uses musical rhythms to synchronize brain oscillations and time TMS pulses to enhance cortical excitability. Focusing on the sensorimotor alpha rhythm, a neural oscillation associated with motor cortical inhibition, we examine whether rhythm-evoked sensorimotor alpha phase alignment affects primary motor cortical (M1) excitability in healthy young adults (n = 33). We first confirmed using electroencephalography (EEG) that passive listening to musical rhythms desynchronizes inhibitory sensorimotor brain rhythms (mu oscillations) around 200 ms before auditory rhythmic events (27 participants). We then targeted this optimal time window by delivering single TMS pulses over M1 200 ms before rhythmic auditory events while recording motor-evoked potentials (MEPs; 19 participants), which resulted in significantly larger MEPs compared to standard single pulse TMS and an auditory control condition. Neither EEG measures during passive listening nor seTMS-induced MEP enhancement showed dependence on musical experience or training. These findings demonstrate that seTMS effectively enhances corticomotor excitability and establishes a practical, cost-effective method for optimizing non-invasive brain stimulation outcomes.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-10-31
preprintOpen access
Abstract Our understanding of sex differences in reward learning has been limited due to the predominant study of males, yet recent studies have uncovered significant differences in the use of adaptive strategies, sensitivity to negative feedback, and impulsivity. Here, we evaluated sex differences in flexible learning in two domains: the learning of stimulus- and action-based associations and their reversals. During action-based learning, rats selected between two identical visual stimuli presented on a touchscreen, where the spatial location predicted a higher probability of reward. For stimulus-based learning, rats chose between two distinct visual stimuli presented in pseudorandom spatial locations, one of which was associated with a higher probability of reward. Reversal phases involved switching reward contingency between the two actions or stimuli. To gain a detailed understanding of diffferences across conditions, we modeled animals’ trial-by-trial choices using reinforcement learning (RL) models and examined their steady-state behavior to capture transitions between distinct behavioral states. We found that female rats were more likely to omit trials and take longer to initiate trials in both domains. The omissions were more frequent in late-stage action-based reversal learning, once learning had plateaued. Moreover, although the estimated parameters of the best-fitting RL model revealed some sex differences, the model that incorporated transitions between different behavioral states provided a better overall fit to the data. This model also revealed that across all reversal phases, females exhibited a higher transition-specific lapse rate than males, indicating greater task disengagement once there was no need for further learning. Together, our fine-grained analysis of behavior adds to a growing literature on sex differences in flexible reward learning.
Virtual reality (VR) can not only be used to create fantastical environments and experiences, but also to simulate reality. An underexplored area of research is how room acoustics affects users’ behavior and immersion in virtual-renderings of real spaces. Previous research has shown that musicians adapt their performance according to the reverberation of the space they are in, and that auditory feedback can affect immersion in virtual environments. This study investigates how room acoustics affects individuals’ sense of immersion and musical behavior in VR. Participants performed short musical compositions in virtual-renderings of real-world spaces. We systematically varied the auditory feedback to simulate dry (no room acoustics) or reverberant conditions both with the same visuals. Our results revealed that the presence of room acoustics enhanced participants’ sense of immersion and affected their playing-speed and key-press intensity. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating room acoustics into VR-design to foster immersion and influence user interaction.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025-07-27
preprintOpen access
Abstract Neural excitability fluctuates with sensory events, creating windows of opportunity to enhance brain stimulation. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), including intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), is a promising treatment for neurological and psychiatric disorders, but does not account for fluctuations in neural excitability, likely contributing to variable outcomes. Sensory Entrained TMS (seTMS) leverages sensorimotor oscillations to enhance corticospinal responses, but the sustained effects as a repetitive protocol are unknown. We extended seTMS to iTBS measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) as a physiological readout in a randomized crossover study comparing standard iTBS with sensory entrained iTBS (se-iTBS, n =20). se-iTBS more than doubled the MEP effect (55% vs. 26% MEP enhancement) and persisted for at least 30 minutes. Notably, more than 80% of participants showed larger responses with se-iTBS at all time points. se-iTBS may provide a robust and practical framework for optimizing TMS that bridges electrophysiological mechanisms and clinical applications.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025-09-10 · 3 citations
article1st authorCorresponding
Neural oscillations in beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma (>30 Hz) frequency bands index a variety of sensorimotor and cognitive processes. To compare two rehabilitation regimens for chronic stroke patients with a hemiparetic hand, we randomly assigned them to either music-supported therapy or physiotherapy for 10 weeks. Previously, we reported the music group's improved motor speed, mood, well-being, and rhythm perception. Here, we investigated changes in neural oscillatory activities. Here, our magnetoencephalography (MEG) data showed significant group-by-session interaction in both somatosensory and auditory-motor paradigms. The control group exhibited a prominent increase in gamma-band frequencies accompanying the somatosensory steady-state responses entrained by 22-Hz vibrotactile stimulation, indicating compensatory functions from the contralesional brain. In contrast, the music group showed a gradual enhancement of auditory-motor coupling in beta-band event-related power changes during passive metronome listening. The music group's increase in beta dynamics in the auditory cortex aligns with our previous work and their improvement in behavioral rhythm perception. Whole-brain data during listening and tapping demonstrated reduced beta modulation in the sensorimotor and prefrontal cortices and temporal poles in the music group, likely related to movements with less effort and attention. The current findings contribute to understanding the frequency-specific communications of the auditory, sensory, and motor systems.
Music Perception An Interdisciplinary Journal · 2025-05-15
articleSenior author
Western tonal music uses harmonic cadences as structural and syntactic markers. This study examines cadence perception regarding the role of pre-cadential and cadential mode congruence. Major-to-minor and minor-to-major mode shifts that occur in Parallel-Mode Tonic (PMT) and Deceptive cadences were of interest, with the former including a key change. Sixty-one adults with varied music training rated arousal, valence, and degree of completion (DOC) for four cadence types (Authentic, PMT, Deceptive, and Neapolitan) in two pre-cadential modes (major or minor). Arousal ratings did not vary much across all cadence types and mode variations. In contrast, valence perception was predominantly influenced by the pre-cadential mode with major mode receiving higher ratings, and DOC perception further correlated with the final chord’s within-context tonal stability. Importantly, the perception of PMT cadences was unique in that the mode of the final tonic chord became far more important in both valence and DOC ratings, pointing to privileged and distinct perceptual processing when mode shifts resolve on a tonic chord, especially of major mode (i.e., Picardy Third). Music training manifested as significantly enhanced rating tendencies that were most apparent for DOC. The results substantially extend our understanding of the interactive nature of modes, tonality, and expertise in music perception.
