Structural and functional asymmetry of lateral Heschl's gyrus reflects pitch perception preference

Schneider, Peter; Sluming, Vanessa; Roberts, Neil; Scherg, Michael; Goebel, Rainer; Specht, H. J.; Dosch, H. G.; Bleeck, Stefan; Stippich, Christoph; Rupp, André

doi:10.1038/nn1530

Cited by 265 publications

(359 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Neuroimaging studies have provided convincing evidence of differences in musicians' brains in structures known to have particular relevance for enabling musical performance, such as increased cross-sectional area of the anterior corpus callosum (Schlaug et al, 1995), increased cortical representation of the left-hand fingers in string players (Elbert et al, 1995), increased gray-matter (GM) volume in anteromedial Heschl's gyrus related to pitch perception (Schneider et al, 2005), and increased GM volume in Broca's area, related to years of playing in orchestral musicians (Sluming et al, 2002). One explanation for the findings that we report could be that inherent brain structure may predispose musicians to excel at the skills necessary for expert musical performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broca's Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians

Brooks²,

et al. 2007

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We provide neurobehavioral evidence supporting the transferable benefit of music training to alter brain function and enhance cognitive performance in a nonmusical visuospatial task in professional orchestral musicians. In particular, orchestral musicians' performance on a three-dimensional mental rotation (3DMR) task exhibited the behavioral profile normally only attained after significant practice, supporting the suggestion that these musicians already possessed well developed neural circuits to support 3DMR. Furthermore, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that only orchestral musicians showed significantly increased activation in Broca's area, in addition to the well known visuospatial network, which was activated in both musicians and nonmusicians who were matched on age, sex, and verbal intelligence. We interpret these functional neuroimaging findings to reflect preferential recruitment of Broca's area, part of the neural substrate supporting sight reading and motor-sequence organization underpinning musical performance, to subserve 3DMR in musicians. Our data, therefore, provide convergent behavioral and neurofunctional evidence supporting the suggestion that development of the sight-reading skills of musical performance alters brain circuit organization which, in turn, confers a wider cognitive benefit, in particular, to nonmusical visuospatial cognition in professional orchestral musicians.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broca's Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians

Brooks²,

et al. 2007

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“…Many of these responses, including auditory "middle latency" responses (~19-80 ms) and the longer latency N1/N1m (100 ms, N1m designating the magnetic counterpart of the electrical N1), N1c (140 ms), P2 (180 ms), and N2m (250 ms) responses, have been shown from electromagnetic studies to be enhanced in young and adult musicians compared to non-musicians (Middle latency: Schneider et al 2002;Shahin et al 2004;N1c: Shahin et al, 2003;N1m: Pantev et al 1998;N2m: Fujioka et al 2006;P2: Shahin et al, 2003P2: Shahin et al, , 2004P2: Shahin et al, & 2005P2m: Shahin et al, 2005;Kuriki et al 2006). Enhancement of the middle latency P50 response in musicians has been shown to parallel an increase of gray matter in Heschl's gyrus, suggesting an enhanced neural population in trained musicians (Schneider et al 2002(Schneider et al & 2005. In principle, these distinct processes in musicians could be inherited and/or learned during the musicians' training history, reflecting improved performance through neural plasticity (Weinberger 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Music training leads to the development of timbre-specific gamma band activity

et al. 2008

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Oscillatory gamma band activity (GBA, has been shown to correlate with perceptual and cognitive phenomena including feature binding, template matching, and learning and memory formation. We hypothesized that if GBA reflects highly learned perceptual template matching, we should observe its development in musicians specific to the timbre of their instrument of practice. EEG was recorded in adult professional violinists and amateur pianists as well as in four-and fiveyear-old children studying piano in the Suzuki method before they commenced music lessons and one year later. The adult musicians showed robust enhancement of induced (non-time-locked) GBA, specifically to their instrument of practice, with the strongest effect in professional violinists. Consistent with this result, the children receiving piano lessons exhibited increased power of induced GBA for piano tones with one year of training, while children not taking lessons showed no effect. In comparison to induced GBA, evoked (time-locked) gamma band activity (30-90 Hz, ~80 ms latency) was present only in adult groups. Evoked GBA was more pronounced in musicians than non-musicians, with synchronization equally exhibited for violin and piano tones but enhanced for these tones compared to pure tones. Evoked gamma activity may index the physical properties of a sound and is modulated by acoustical training, while induced GBA may reflect higher perceptual learning and is shaped by specific auditory experiences.

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“…This finding may reflect the stronger sensorimotor demand for the left hand and the right motor cortex in string players and lends support to the hypothesis of training-induced anatomical plasticity. In general, structural differences seem to be more pronounced in musicians who began learning at a younger age (Elbert et al, 1995;Schlaug et al, 1995a) and practiced with greater intensity (Schneider et al, 2005;Gaser and Schlaug, 2003;Hutchinson et al, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…There is evidence of structural differences in gray matter between musicians and non-musicians in a number of regions in the brain, including the planum temporale (Keenan et al, 2001;Schlaug et al, 1995b), Heschl's gyrus (Schneider et al, 2005), the anterior corpus callosum (Schlaug et al, 1995a), the primary hand motor area and the cerebellum (Gaser and Schlaug, 2003), and Broca's area (Sluming et al, 2002). Interestingly, structural differences in the primary motor cortex between keyboard and string instrument players have been reported (Schlaug et al, 2005).…”

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confidence: 99%

White matter plasticity in the corticospinal tract of musicians: A diffusion tensor imaging study

et al. 2009

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With the advent of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), the study of plastic changes in white matter architecture due to long-term practice has attracted increasing interest. Professional musicians provide an ideal model for investigating white matter plasticity because of their early onset of extensive auditory and sensorimotor training. We performed fiber tractography and subsequent voxelwise analysis, region of interest (ROI) analysis, and detailed slicewise analysis of diffusion parameters in the corticospinal tract (CST) on 26 professional musicians and a control group of 13 participants. All analyses resulted in significantly lower fractional anisotropy (FA) values in both the left and the right CST in the musician group. Furthermore, a right-greater-than-left asymmetry of FA was observed regardless of group. In the musician group, diffusivity was negatively correlated with the onset of musical training in childhood. A subsequent median split into an early and a late onset musician group (median=7 years) revealed increased diffusivity in the CST of the early onset group as compared to both the late onset group and the controls. In conclusion, these DTI-based findings might indicate plastic changes in white matter architecture of the CST in professional musicians. Our results imply that training-induced changes in diffusion characteristics of the axonal membrane may lead to increased radial diffusivity as reflected in decreased FA values. AbstractWith the advent of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), the study of plastic changes in white matter architecture due to long-term practice has attracted increasing interest. Professional musicians provide an ideal model for investigating white matter plasticity because of their early onset of extensive auditory and sensorimotor training. We performed fiber tractography and subsequent voxelwise analysis, region of interest (ROI) analysis, and detailed slicewise analysis of diffusion parameters in the CST on 26 professional musicians and a control group of 13 participants. All analyses resulted in significantly lower FA values in both the left and the right CST in the musician group. Furthermore, a right-greater-than-left asymmetry of FA was observed regardless of group.In the musician group, diffusivity was negatively correlated with the onset of musical training in childhood. A subsequent median split into an early and a late onset musician group (median = 7 years) revealed increased diffusivity in the CST of the early onset group as compared with both the late onset group and the controls. In conclusion, these DTI-based findings might indicate plastic changes in white matter architecture of the CST in professional musicians. Our results imply that training-induced changes in diffusion characteristics of the axonal membrane may lead to increased radial diffusivity as reflected in decreased FA values.2

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Structural and functional asymmetry of lateral Heschl's gyrus reflects pitch perception preference

Cited by 265 publications

References 45 publications

Broca's Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians

Broca's Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians

Music training leads to the development of timbre-specific gamma band activity

White matter plasticity in the corticospinal tract of musicians: A diffusion tensor imaging study

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