When Sound Guides the Body: Sensorimotor Synchrony and the Rhythms of Human Movement
When Sound Guides the Body: Sensorimotor Synchrony and the Rhythms of Human Movement
The study by Matamala-Gomez and colleagues (2026) investigates a central question for understanding how the brain organizes human movement: how different sensory modalities influence the synchronization between perception and bodily action. Using a bodily walking task combined with sensory stimulation, the authors examined how auditory, audiovisual, and purely visual signals modulate what is known as sensorimotor frequency tagging, a method that allows researchers to observe how neural oscillations synchronize with rhythmic external stimuli.
The main finding is clear: sensorimotor frequency tagging was significantly enhanced when participants received auditory or audiovisual stimuli, but not when they received purely visual stimuli. In other words, sound plays a privileged role in synchronizing the brain and the body during movement, whereas visual signals alone do not produce the same level of sensorimotor coupling.
Sensorimotor Synchrony and the Rhythms of Human Movement
What the Study Demonstrates
The experiment analyzed how external rhythmic signals align with the natural oscillatory activity of the sensorimotor system during walking. Through frequency tagging analysis, the researchers were able to observe how neural responses tracked the periodic structure of the sensory stimuli.
The results showed that:
Auditory stimulation strongly enhanced sensorimotor synchronization
Audiovisual stimulation also increased this effect
Purely visual input did not produce the same level of neural entrainment
These findings suggest that the human motor system is intrinsically tuned to auditory temporal structures, particularly in contexts involving rhythmic bodily movement, such as walking.
From a neurophysiological perspective, the results reinforce the idea that sound provides a powerful temporal scaffold for motor coordination, helping the brain predict and organize the rhythm of bodily actions.
A Decolonial Neuroscience Perspective
From the perspective of Decolonial Neuroscience, this study helps place the body back at the center of cognition. For a long time, models influenced by WEIRD research traditions emphasized visual and representational processing, often treating perception as primarily visual and abstract.
However, many human cultures — especially Indigenous traditions and communities with strong embodied practices — have long recognized that rhythm, sound, and collective movement are fundamental to organizing human experience.
In this sense, the work by Matamala-Gomez and colleagues empirically confirms something that many cultures have practiced for centuries: sound organizes the body in space and time.
Within the framework of the Damasian Mind, this integration between auditory perception and movement reflects the dynamic interaction between interoception, proprioception, and action in the world. Walking in synchrony with rhythmic auditory input is not simply a motor response; it represents a reconfiguration of the organism’s bodily state.
APUS and the Body-Territory
The most appropriate conceptual avatar to interpret this study is APUS, representing the idea of extended proprioception and body-territory.
Walking in synchrony with sound reveals that the body does not move in isolation. Instead, it continuously adjusts to the sensory environment. Sound becomes an extension of the bodily territory, allowing the brain to organize movement in relation to spatial and temporal patterns.
From this perspective, the brain does not simply react to the world; it rhythmically couples with the environment.
Connection with Tensional Selves and Zones 1, 2, and 3
This study can also be interpreted through the concept of Tensional Selves, which describes the functional states the organism sustains to act in the world.
During rhythmic walking tasks:
Zone 1
The individual performs the task in a functional and goal-oriented manner, maintaining coordination and movement rhythm.
Zone 2
Efficient auditory synchronization may lead to a state of embodied fluency, where perception and movement become integrated in a fluid and effortless way.
Zone 3
When synchronization breaks down — due to sensory overload, physiological dysregulation, or cognitive rigidity — movement may become fragmented and less adaptive.
The study suggests that sound may act as a facilitator of more integrated bodily coordination, potentially supporting transitions toward Zone-2-like states of embodied fluency.
DREX Citizen and Collective Belonging
The relationship between rhythm, body, and movement also carries social implications. In many cultures, music and rhythm serve as mechanisms of collective coordination, appearing in rituals, dances, collective walks, and cooperative practices.
Within the concept of DREX Citizen, social belonging can be understood through a biological analogy. Just as cells require stable energy to function properly, societies require minimum metabolic security to enable creativity, cooperation, and social coordination.
When the social body achieves metabolic stability, it becomes more likely that collective states of coordination and creative interaction will emerge, similar to the sensorimotor synchrony observed in well-regulated biological systems.
New Questions for BrainLatam
Does sensorimotor synchronization increase in collective walking tasks compared to individual movement?
Do physiological regulation markers such as HRV and respiration patterns influence the ability to synchronize with auditory rhythms?
Could EEG or fNIRS hyperscanning reveal neural synchronization between individuals walking together?
Are young children more sensitive to auditory synchronization during bodily movement?
Could shared rhythmic activity facilitate collective Zone-2 states, characterized by cooperation and behavioral fluidity?
Possible Experimental Designs
A promising experimental direction would combine EEG, fNIRS, HRV, respiration, and motion sensors during rhythmic walking tasks under different sensory conditions.
Another possibility would be hyperscanning experiments, where two or more participants walk together while exposed to shared rhythmic stimuli, allowing researchers to observe inter-brain synchronization.
A particularly interesting BrainLatam approach would investigate sensorimotor synchronization in musical or ritual contexts, where sound acts as a natural organizer of collective behavior.
BrainLatam Conclusion
The study by Matamala-Gomez and colleagues highlights an important principle: the human brain appears deeply tuned to sound when organizing bodily movement.
This reinforces the idea that cognition is not merely abstract information processing. Instead, cognition emerges from bodies that move, listen, and synchronize with their environment.
From a Decolonial Neuroscience perspective, understanding the human mind requires studying not only the isolated brain, but also the moving body within a shared sensory and social territory.
Reference
Matamala-Gomez, M., Vilà-Balló, A., Cucurell, D., Tajadura-Jiménez, A., & Rodriguez-Fornells, A. (2026).
Sensorimotor frequency tagging is enhanced by auditory and audiovisual, but not visual, inputs during a bodily walking task.
Psychophysiology, 63(2).
https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70225
