Activation of the left superior temporal gyrus of musicians by music-derived sounds

Previous studies have suggested that professional musicians comprehend features of music-derived sound even if the sound sequence lacks the traditional temporal structure of music. We tested this hypothesis through behavioral and functional brain imaging experiments. Musicians were better than nonmu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNeuroreport Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 41
Main Authors Matsui, Toshie, Tanaka, Satomi, Kazai, Koji, Tsuzaki, Minoru, Katayose, Haruhiro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 09.01.2013
Subjects
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain Mapping
Choice Behavior
Female
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Music
Oxygen - blood
Professional Competence
Sound
Temporal Lobe - blood supply
Temporal Lobe - physiology
Young Adult
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Summary:Previous studies have suggested that professional musicians comprehend features of music-derived sound even if the sound sequence lacks the traditional temporal structure of music. We tested this hypothesis through behavioral and functional brain imaging experiments. Musicians were better than nonmusicians at identifying scrambled pieces of piano music in which the original temporal structure had been destroyed. Bilateral superior temporal gyri (STG) activity was observed while musicians listened to the scrambled stimuli, whereas this activity was present only in the right STG of nonmusicians under the same experimental conditions. We suggest that left STG activation is related to the processing of deviants, which appears to be enhanced in musicians. This may be because of the superior knowledge of musical temporal structure held by this population.
ISSN:1473-558X
DOI:10.1097/WNR.0b013e32835c1e02