Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks

Abstract

Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sexand intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experiencedriven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higherorder cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.

Regional cerebellar volumes are related to early musical training and finger tapping performance

“…However, it is consistent with studies reporting reduced structural and functional contributions to performance in expert musician and dancer populations (Granert et al, 2011;James et al, 2013;Jäncke et al, 2000;Krings et al, 2000;Nigmatullina et al, 2013). This differential impact of early training and experience on brain structure in specific cerebellar lobules may be accounted for by the role of these lobules in sensorimotor tasks and the effects of expertise in automating such tasks, lessening the need to process sensory feedback, as suggested by James et al (2013) in explaining their findings of musicians' greater versus lesser gray matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor areas.…”

“…Filled diamonds and squares represent subgroup means. the suggestion that decreases could be related to more efficient motor control processes that may require fewer neurons and less sensory feedback (James et al, 2013). Similar factors may be responsible for the volume decreases observed here.…”

Brain functional plasticity associated with the emergence of expertise in extreme language control

“…The changes in the caudate nucleus may be due to increased efficiency in juggling the lexico-semantic sets of two languages required for the execution of simultaneous interpretation. Our findings add weight to the notion that the right striatum occupies a key position in evolving expert performance, as has previously been shown in professional musicians (James et al, 2013), chess players (Haslinger et al, 2004), athletes (Duan et al, 2012) and here, in simultaneous interpreters. This notion is compatible with the wideranging roles of the basal ganglia, which include cognitive pattern generation (Milton et al, 2007;Yarrow et al, 2009), action pattern selection and refinement (Graybiel, 1997), and prediction (Houk et al, 2007), and in learning, memory and motivation more generally.…”

“…They conclude that this reflects a change to an invariant component of the motor planning network that differs between the two levels of expertise. Expertise-related structural changes have also been reported: expert musicians exhibit decreased gray-matter density in the right caudate as a function of musical expertise (James et al, 2013), and expert interpreters similarly show decreased gray-matter density in the caudate nuclei bilaterally as a function of cumulative expertise (Elmer et al, 2014). The intersection of these disparate domains of expertise in the right striatum suggests that decreased caudate engagement may be a cerebral hallmark of expert performance.…”

Music and Language Expertise Influence the Categorization of Speech and Musical Sounds: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Measurements

“…However, such plastic changes are often not restricted to single brain compartments, but rather affect a vast amount of cortical tissue (James et al, 2013;Zou et al, 2012;Bermudez et al, 2009;Abutalebi & Green, 2007;Gaser & Schlaug, 2003a, 2003b. This phenomenon probably accounts for the often observed cognitive advantages of music and language experts in a variety of cognitive domains, including verbal learning (Bradley, King, & Hernandez, 2013;Kuhnis, Elmer, Meyer, & Jancke, 2013), memory (Morales, Calvo, & Bialystok, 2013;Kraus, Strait, & Parbery-Clark, 2012;Schulze, Zysset, Mueller, Friederici, & Koelsch, 2011), attention (Strait, Kraus, Parbery-Clark, & Ashley, 2010;Costa, Hernandez, & Sebastian-Galles, 2008;Bialystok, Craik, Klein, & Viswanathan, 2004), and inhibition (Festman, Rodriguez-Fornells, & Munte, 2010;Bialystok et al, 2004).…”