How Musical Training Shapes the Adult Brain: Predispositions and Neuroplasticity

Abstract

Learning to play a musical instrument is a complex task that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. Therefore, musical training is considered a useful framework for the research on training-induced neuroplasticity. However, the classical nature-or-nurture question remains, whether the differences observed between musicians and non-musicians are due to predispositions or result from the training itself. Here we present a review of recent publications with strong focus on experimental designs to better understand both brain reorganization and the neuronal markers of predispositions when learning to play a musical instrument. Cross-sectional studies identified structural and functional differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians, especially in regions related to motor control and auditory processing. A few longitudinal studies showed functional changes related to training while listening to and producing music, in the motor network and its connectivity with the auditory system, in line with the outcomes of cross-sectional studies. Parallel changes within the motor system and between the motor and auditory systems were revealed for structural connectivity. In addition, potential predictors of musical learning success were found including increased brain activation in the auditory and motor systems during listening, the microstructure of the arcuate fasciculus, and the functional connectivity between the auditory and the motor systems. We show that “the musical brain” is a product of both the natural human neurodiversity and the training practice.

Musicians and non-musicians’ consonant/dissonant perception investigated by EEG and fMRI

“…Table 2). These findings were in line with one recent meta-analysis study suggesting the involvement of midline brain regions (e.g., ACC), as well as the increases in both the structural and functional connectivities between lateralized auditory and motor cortex with years of longitudinal musicianship (Olszewska et al, 2021). For both musicians (on frequency ratio) and non-musicians (on frequency differences), the rACC/MPFC were consistently engaged in the dissonant processing (again, Fig.…”

Changes in Brain Responses to Music and Non-music Sounds Following Creativity Training Within the “Different Hearing” Program

“…Also, our study design did not involve exact repetition, as our sound samples were randomly selected and ordered. Our longitudinal design including a control group permits separation of general time and repetition effects from training-induced plasticity (Olszewska et al, 2021).…”

Experiment in a Box (XB): An Interactive Technology Framework for Sustainable Health Practices

“…Thus we practice skills like a tennis serve, at first to learn the technique and build the coordination until the skill is automated (Luft and Buitrago, 2005)-where it actually changes where that pattern sits in our brain. After this, we practice the skill literally to keep those neural pathways cleared and strong (Olszewska et al, 2021). But the practice of the practice is to deliberately work to add nuance to the skill, to operate better, faster, across contexts.…”