PSY 302 Midterm Replacement Task 3

1- Dahlia rehearses basic tango routines consisting of four or five dance figures at home
first (a) without and then (b) with music.
While rehearsing dance figures, first of all proprioception is involved in it, and also dorsal
stream of visual sensory modality too. Because of body movement and perception spatial
location of body involved in the act. Therefore, we witness a significant increase in activity
levels of parietal lobe, because of the activity in dorsal pathway and somatosensory system.
With the increase in parietal lobe, we witness increases in activity levels of supplementary
motor area, since dancing involves temporal sequencing of different movements. We would
not see a significant increase in premotor cortex since Dahlia already knows how to dance and
she merely rehearses simple figures. Also of course primary motor cortex has an increase in
activity levels in order to carry the information coming from motor cortex to subcortical areas,
especially cerebellum. When we add the music to this situation, the question of whether
where the music comes from or what is the music playing is more important comes up. In
dancing, it is more likely that “What” system has more importance. Therefore, we would
witness a significant increase in activity levels of middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus
and superior temporal gyrus of left hemisphere. Also increased levels of activity in corpus
callosum is observed with music.
2-   Dahlia and a male partner dance freely, i.e. they improvise.
Since they probably watch each other while dancing and proprioception is again involved an
increase in the activity levels of parietal lobe is present because of dorsal pathway. Most of
the other activity levels are same with the first question. But different from first question, an
improvisation is present here, thus spontaneous movements. Keeping that in mind, it is
possible to say that an increase in activity levels of pre-supplementary motor area and
premotor cortex is present. Also, since Dahlia is female and her partner is male, and in tango
dance movements change according to sex, both dancers will have decreased level of activity
in their mirror neuron system. But still would have a significant level of activity in MNS
while watching each other’s improvised figures.
3- At a tango event, Dahlia and a male partner perform the well-trained tango
choreography that they have been doing in the past 5 years, tens of times a year.
Since both dancers are performing the figures they know a lot, first of all, what differs from
other situations is the increased levels of activity in posterior supplementary motor area. Also,
we see decreased levels of activity in pre motor cortex because of lack of learning new
movement. Again, since Dahlia is female and her partner is male, decreased levels of mirror
neuron system activity is present while compared with if her partner was female too. But this
would not make a large difference since new movements are absent. While performing a
known act, their activity of cerebellum might also increase. But it is also known within the
literature that in the case of damage to cerebellum, continuous motor activity is not impaired.
4- Dahlia watches another tango dancer who demonstrates typical male tango figures
without a partner.
Main increase of activity levels would be in the mirror neuron system in this situation. But it
would not be as high as watching a female partner. Mirror neuron system is located in
premotor cortex, so when it comes to a comparison between activity levels of different brain
regions, an increased activity in premotor cortex is present.
5- Dahlia watches another tango dancer who demonstrates typical female tango figures
without a partner.
We witness the highest level of activity in mirror neuron system in this situation, since partner
is female and the watcher, Dahlia is also female. Mirror neuron systems are activated in
observation of a particular movement made by another. Also it is known that in dancers,
females MNS respond more to observation of female figures while compared with
observation of male figures.
6- While Dahlia and her partner dance with multiple other couples on the dancefloor,
another couple inadvertently bumps against them hard. Dahlia loses her balance for a
moment, nearly falls, and then regains her posture.
At this point, we might say that The flocculonodular lobe had a very high level of activity.
Also while dancing with other couples and regaining posture, her somatosensory cortex was
highly active because of kinaesthetic acts and proprioception. Both while dancing and after
the bump. Also, because of necessary quick movements to regain posture, lateral zone could
be also activated.
7- While dancing, Dahlia makes a reaching movement towards her partner’s arm. 
First of all, different regions of parietal, temporal lobes are activated because of necessary
sensory input. Especially parietal lobe is important because of complex motor behaviour
involved in this case. Frontopolar cortex could also be involved in this action. Anterior
Intraparietal Sulcus is also activated at this point because of the grasping action involved.
Then the information is sent to motor association cortex and with the intention of taking her
partner’s arm into her hands, an activation in pre-SMA is also observed, also at the other parts
of the motor association cortex.
8-  Eyes closed and lying on the bed, Dahlia imagines dancing to tango (motor imagery).
Most important activation increase is observed in supplementary motor area in this case.
Since there aren’t any kind of actual movement involved, there would not be any activation in
primary motor cortex.
9- For a TV show, Dahlia demonstrates different dance routines and she knows which
routine is expected next according to the change in the colour of a light that she has
learned (i.e. 'routine A' if light turns green, 'routine B' if light turns purple etc.).
Since she knows which routine is expected after a particular action, non-arbitrary information
is present in this case, and Dahlia act accordingly. An increase in activity levels of premotor
cortex is present at this point.
10- Dahlia is asleep (REM sleep) and dreams of dancing.
While Dahlia is sleeping, high levels of activation on visual association cortex-extrastriate
cortex is present, while activity in primary visual cortex and prefrontal cortex is low. This
might be related with the lack of sensory input while dreaming. Specifically, since
sublaterodorsal nucleus is involved in activation of REM sleep, it might have increased levels
of activity while compared with ventrolateral periaqueductal grey region, since it serves for
the inhibition of REM sleep.
11- Dahlia begins to learn juggling.
Motor association cortices and primary motor cortex have increased levels of activity since it
is involved in learning and executing new complex movements. Caudate receives information
from prefrontal cortex in order to produce rules about the expected behaviour. Thus, both
have increased levels of activation. Putamen is connected with sensory and motor association
cortices, which is why it has increased levels of activation too. Then activity of basal ganglia
as a whole increase as Dahlia improves herself in juggling. Overall, if the juggling behaviour
is very novel to Dahlia, more neural circuits needs to be modified in aforementioned areas,
leading to higher levels of neural activity. In the case of learning to juggle, both grey and
white matter of the brain increases. It leads to strengthening of the connection between motor
association and sensory association areas, which is related to the increase in the white and
grey matter.
12- Given that tango features specialized and precise movements of the different parts of
the body such as the legs, feet, arms, hands, and torso; do you think we would observe
specific differences between the brains of proficient tango dancers and the average
population? If yes, what would those be?
First of all, I think tango is similar to juggling in terms of the necessity of a strong connection
between motor association and sensory association areas. Thus, proficient tango dancers
might have larger grey and white in their brain. Their corpus callosum might also be larger,
because we know that piano players have a larger corpus callosum because of increased levels
of connectivity between two hemispheres. This might be also valid for tango dancers since it
involves a combination of rhythm and motor skills. Also we know that skaters and basketball
players have larger cerebellum, and this might be valid for tango dancers too. But there isn’t a
causality formed yet regarding the cerebellum and basketball playing/skating. Present
research only implies a such correlation. Tango dancers might also have larger parietal lobes,
since dancing requires sharp senses regarding proprioception/navigation through different
sensory information.