Groove sensations arise from rhythmic structures that evoke an urge to move in response to music. While syncopation has been extensively studied in groove perception, the neural mechanisms underlying low-frequency groove remain underexplored. This fMRI study examines the role of the mirror neuron system and associated brain regions in processing low-frequency groove. Region-of-interest analysis revealed that amplifying drum and bass components in K-pop songs significantly increased activity in the right posterior inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior/superior parietal lobules, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral posterior middle/inferior temporal gyrus. These findings suggest that low-frequency grooves engage sensorimotor, executive, and rhythm semantics networks, reinforcing their role in action-related processing. Building on these insights, we propose an enhanced rhythmic auditory stimulation paradigm for Parkinson's disease, incorporating amplified low-frequency rhythmic cues to improve gait synchronization.
Tsai et al. (Tue,) studied this question.