Training-mediated leftward asymmetries during music processing: A cross-sectional and longitudinal fMRI analysis

Abstract

Practicing a musical instrument has a profound impact on the structure and function of the human brain. The present fMRI study explored how relative hemispheric asymmetries in task-related activity during music processing (same/different discrimination) are shaped by musical training (quantified as cumulative hours of instrument practice), using both a large (N = 84) cross-sectional data set of children and adults, and a smaller (N = 20) two time-point longitudinal data set of children tracked over 3 to 5 years. The cross-sectional analysis revealed a significant leftward asymmetry in task-related activation, with peaks in Heschl's gyrus and supramarginal gyrus (SMG). The SMG peak was further characterized by a leftward asymmetry in the partial correlation strength with subjects' cumulative hours of practice, controlling for subjects' age and task performance. This SMG peak was found to exhibit a similar pattern of response in the longitudinal data set (in this case, with subjects' cumulative hours of practice over the course of the study), controlling for age, scan interval, and amount of instrument practice prior to the first scan. This study presents novel insights into the ways musical instrument training shapes task-related asymmetries in neural activity during music processing.

Interhemispheric transcallosal connectivity between the left and right planum temporale predicts musicianship, performance in temporal speech processing, and functional specialization

“…Currently, there is evidence showing that musicianship is associated with specific functional (Ellis et al 2013;Elmer et al 2012;Ohnishi et al 2001) and structural features of the left (and right) PT (Bermudez et al 2009;Elmer et al 2013;Keenan et al 2001;Luders et al 2004;Schlaug et al 1995b), and that these features are associated with better discrimination accuracy for CV syllables and reducedspectrum analogues . However, it still remains concealed whether white matter connectivity between the left and right PT is altered as a function of musical training, to what extent this connectivity pattern contribute to segmental speech processing and PT specialization, and whether the diffusion properties of this specific fibre bundle are related to musical practice.…”

Language lateralization shifts with learning by adults

“…Others have reported activation-related changes for visuo-spatial learning (e.g., Hötting, Holzschneider, Stenzel, Wolbers, & Röder, 2013; Küper, Wünnemann, Thürling, et al, 2014; Nemmi, Boccia, Piccardi, Galati, & Guariglia, 2013), motor movements (e.g., Landau & D’Esposito, 2006; Meister, Krings, Foltys, Boroojerdi, Müller, Töpper, & Thron, 2005; Vogt, S., Buccino, G., Wohlschläger et al, 2007), and musical experience (Chen, Rae, & Watkins, 2012; Ellis, Bruijin, Norton, Winner, & Schlaug, 2013; Ellis Norton, Overy, Winner, Alsop, & Schlaug, 2012; Fujioka, Ross, Kakigi, Pantev, & Trainor, 2006; Koelsch, Fritz, Schulze, Alsop, & Schlaug, 2005). Although either learning or just greater experience in visuo-spatial and motor domains is often associated with a reduction in brain activation or skill acquisition (Hötting et al, 2013; Nemmi et al, 2013; Vogt et al, 2007), laterality shifts have been reported for aspects of music learning.…”

“…Listening to trained vs. untrained melodies resulted in a reduction of activation in right but not left superior temporal gyrus (Chen et al, 2012). A left hemisphere increase in activation has been associated with hours of musical training for the left superior temporal gyrus (Ellis et al, 2012) and left supramarginal gyrus (Ellis et al, 2013). Similarly, children with violin training showed larger electrophysiologic response over left hemisphere electrode sites to violin tones, compared with their untrained peers (Fujioka et al, 2006).…”

Differential parietal and temporal contributions to music perception in improvising and score-dependent musicians, an fMRI study

“…The significantly larger activations of improvising musicians in right hemisphere, in comparison with musically unskilled controls (Harris and de Jong, 2014), might also seem to conflict with the general view that expert musicians process music in the left hemisphere and non-musicians in the right (Fabbro et al, 1990;Evers et al, 1999;Itoh et al, 2001;Bhattacharya and Petsche, 2005;Ellis et al, 2012;Ellis et al, 2013). The results of the present study suggest, however, that right-hemisphere dominance in improvising musicians is associated with their unique ability to perform audiospatial-motor transformations on music they hear, transformations that are associated with a dedicated righthemisphere dorsal network of parietal and premotor areas.…”