Musicianship is associated with neuroplastic changes in brainstem and cortical structures, as well as improved acuity for behaviorally relevant sounds including speech. However, further advance in the field depends on characterizing how neuroplastic changes in brainstem and cortical speech processing relate to one another and to speech-listening behaviors. Here, we show that subcortical and cortical neural plasticity interact to yield the linguistic advantages observed with musicianship. We compared brainstem and cortical neuroelectric responses elicited by a series of vowels that differed along a categorical speech continuum in amateur musicians and non-musicians. Musicians obtained steeper identification functions and classified speech sounds more rapidly than non-musicians. Behavioral advantages coincided with more robust and temporally coherent brainstem phase-locking to salient speech cues (voice pitch and formant information) coupled with increased amplitude in cortical-evoked responses, implying an overall enhancement in the nervous system's responsiveness to speech. Musicians' subcortical and cortical neural enhancements (but not behavioral measures) were correlated with their years of formal music training. Associations between multi-level neural responses were also stronger in musically trained listeners, and were better predictors of speech perception than in non-musicians. Results suggest that musicianship modulates speech representations at multiple tiers of the auditory pathway, and strengthens the correspondence of processing between subcortical and cortical areas to allow neural activity to carry more behaviorally relevant information. We infer that musicians have a refined hierarchy of internalized representations for auditory objects at both pre-attentive and attentive levels that supplies more faithful phonemic templates to decision mechanisms governing linguistic operations.

ABSTRACT-Does music make you smarter? Music listening and music lessons have been claimed to confer intellectual advantages. Any association between music and intellectual functioning would be notable only if the benefits apply reliably to nonmusical abilities and if music is unique in producing the effects. The available evidence indicates that music listening leads to enhanced performance on a variety of cognitive tests, but that such effects are shortterm and stem from the impact of music on arousal level and mood, which, in turn, affect cognitive performance; experiences other than music listening have similar effects. Music lessons in childhood tell a different story. They are associated with small but general and long-lasting intellectual benefits that cannot be attributed to obvious confounding variables such as family income and parents' education. The mechanisms underlying this association have yet to be determined.

After reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) afferent proprioceptive information from the knee joint may be altered. In order to examine changes in central activation patterns, spectral features of the electroencephalography (EEG) were measured. Patients after ACL reconstruction and healthy controls carried out an knee-angle reproduction task in a groups x limbs x trials design. Cortical activity was recorded using international standards. FFT were conducted to determine power at Theta, Alpha-1, Alpha-2 and Beta-1. Statistics show significantly larger aberrations in the reconstructed limbs compared with the controls whereas there are no differences between the uninvolved land controls. Brain activity demonstrates significantly higher frontal Theta-power (F3, F4, F8) in both limbs of the ACL group vs the controls and a significantly higher Alpha-2 power was shown in the ACL-reconstructed limb compared with controls at parietal positions (P3, P4). No such differences were found between the uninvolved side and the controls. The EEG was able to measure a change in joint position sense at the cortical level after the reconstruction of the ACL. The results of these findings might indicate differences in focused attention with involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (frontal Theta) and sensory processing in the parietal somatosensory cortex (Alpha-2).

To determine the effect of the taurine containing drink "Red Bull" on cardiac parameters thirteen endurance trained subjects performed an exhaustive bout of endurance exercise at three different times. Prior to the exercise the original "Red Bull" drink, a similar drink without taurine, containing caffeine, and a "placebo" drink without caffeine and without taurine were ingested by the subjects in a double-blind cross-over design. Echocardiographic examinations were performed before the drinks, 40 minutes after the drinks prior to the exercise and in the regeneration period after exercise. Stroke volume was significantly influenced only in the "Red Bull group" (80,4+/-21,4 ml before drink vs. 97,5+/-26,2 ml in the regeneration period), mainly due to a reduced endsystolic diameter and volume. Furthermore in this group the peak late diastolic inflow (V(A)) in the regeneration period was significantly higher compared with the pre-exercise levels. This observation was also made in the caffeine group but without any consequences on ventricular function. The results of the present study show an influence of the original caffeine and taurine containing drink (Red Bull) on parameters of the cardiac contractility.

Afferent proprioceptive information from the knee joint may be altered due to a reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which could result in changes of cortical activity. The aim of the study is to look if force sensation and cortical activation measured by EEG are influenced by an ACL-reconstruction when performing a force reproduction task. Nine patients after ACL reconstruction and nine healthy controls were asked to reproduce 50% of their maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) reproduction. EEG power values related to frequency bands and the error in reproduction were collected while performing the force reproduction. The aberration error demonstrated no significant differences between groups. The cortical activity results in significant higher frontal Theta power during the force reproduction task with the reconstructed limb (F3 and Fz: p < 0.05) of the ACL group compared to the controls. The EEG was able to measure changes in electrocortical activity after ACL-reconstruction in force reproduction, whereas performance data was not affected. The results were discussed in terms of differences in attentional control with involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex related to higher frontal Theta power in the ACL patients. Keywords: ACL; cortical activity; EEG; proprioception; force controlThe anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important mechanical structure, which maintains knee joint integrity. But knee joint function is complex and does not depend on mechanical stability alone. It is also based on sensorimotor function, a dynamic interaction between the central nervous and musculoskeletal system including proprioceptive structures.1 Peripheral proprioceptive information plays an important role within the sensorimotor system and after knee injuries. Proprioception is divided in three different modalities: (1) the sensation of motion, (2) the sensation of joint position, and (3) the sensation of force or tension, which is commonly assessed by force reproduction and is important for goal directed movements and joint stability.2 Muscle spindles and mechanoreceptors such as Ruffini endings, Pacini corpuscles, and Golgi tendon organs are responsible for these sensations. An ACL injury leads to a disturbance of the sensorimotor system due to a loss or damage of the mechanoreceptors causing changes in motor behavior.3,4 Therefore, an ACL rupture often leads to chronic knee instability 4 as a consequence of a weak quadriceps and a deficit in sensorimotor function. 5With regards to impaired sensorimotor function after ACL injury/reconstruction studies have demonstrated deficits in motor behavior using sensorimotor tasks which are closely related to sensation of motion 6,7 and joint position [8][9][10] . In contrast, the perception of force has been largely ignored in investigations of sensorimotor function related to ACL injuries. To our knowledge there is only one study, which evaluates the modality of force sensation. Heroux and Tremblay11 examined the ability of weight discri...

A skilled player in goal-directed sports performance has the ability to process internal and external information in an effective manner and decide which pieces of information are important and which are irrelevant. Focused attention and somatosensory information processing play a crucial role in this process. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings are able to demonstrate cortical changes in conjunction with this concept and were examined during a golf putting performance in an expert-novice paradigm. The success in putting (score) and performance-related cortical activity were recorded with an EEG during a 5 x 4 min putting series. Subjects were asked to putt balls for four min at their own pace. The EEG data was divided into different frequencies: Theta (4.75-6.75 Hz), Alpha-1 (7-9.5 Hz), Alpha-2 (9.75-12.5 Hz) and Beta-1 (12.75-18.5 Hz) and performance related power values were calculated. Statistical analysis shows significant better performance in the expert golfers (P < 0.001). This was associated with higher fronto-midline Theta power (P < 0.05) and higher parietal Alpha-2 power values (P < 0.05) compared to the novices in golf putting. Frontal Theta and parietal Alpha-2 spectral power in the ongoing EEG demonstrate differences due to skill level. Furthermore the findings suggest that with increasing skill level, golfers have developed task solving strategies including focussed attention and an economy in parietal sensory information processing which lead to more successful performance. In a theoretical framework both cortical parameters may play a role in the concept of the working memory.

We tested the hypothesis that polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) cell counts and phagocytic activity determined by latex ingestion and superoxide anion production are influenced by different training periods. We investigated long-distance runners before and up to 24 h after a graded exercise test to exhaustion during moderate training (MT) and intense training (IT) and compared them with untrained (control) subjects. Cell counts and phagocytic activity at rest and after exercise did not differ significantly between MT and control. On the contrary, IT showed a significant (P < or = 0.05) decrease in PMN cell count at rest (2.55 +/- 0.3 cells/nl) compared with MT (3.63 +/- 0.2 cells/nl) and control (3.41 +/- 0.8 cells/nl). Furthermore, phagocytic activity was significantly reduced (P < or = 0.05) in IT at rest and after exercise compared with MT and control. A strong inverse correlation (r = -0.75; P < or = 0.01) between epinephrine and superoxide anion production was found. These results provide evidence that the phagocytic activity depends on the training period and indicate impaired PMN functions during IT, which might lead to increased susceptibility to infection.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of phosphatidylserine (PS) on cognition and cortical activity after mental stress. After familiarization, 16 healthy subjects completed cognitive tasks after induced stress in a test-re-test design (T1 and T2). Directly after T1, subjects were assigned double-blind to either PS or placebo groups followed by T2 after 42 days. At T1 and T2, cortical activity was measured at baseline and immediately after stress with cognitive tasks using electro-encephalography (EEG). EEG was recorded at 17 electrode positions and fast Fourier transforms (FFT) determined power at Theta, Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta-1 and Beta-2. Statistics were calculated using ANOVA (group x trial x time). The main finding of the study was that chronic supplementation of phosphatidylserine significantly decreases Beta-1 power in right hemispheric frontal brain regions (F8; P < 0.05) before and after induced stress. The results for Beta-1 power in the PS group were connected to a more relaxed state compared to the controls.