Abstract
Structure and function of the human brain are affected by training in both linguistic and musical domains. Individuals with intensive vocal musical training provide a useful model for investigating neural adaptations of learning in the vocal–motor domain and can be compared with learning in a more general musical domain. Here we confirm general differences in macrostructure (tract volume) and microstructure (fractional anisotropy, FA) of the arcuate fasciculus (AF), a prominent white-matter tract connecting temporal and frontal brain regions, between singers, instrumentalists, and non-musicians. Both groups of musicians differed from non-musicians in having larger tract volume and higher FA values of the right and left AF. The AF was then subdivided in a dorsal (superior) branch connecting the superior temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (STG ↔ IFG), and ventral (inferior) branch connecting the middle temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (MTG ↔ IFG). Relative to instrumental musicians, singers had a larger tract volume but lower FA values in the left dorsal AF (STG ↔ IFG), and a similar trend in the left ventral AF (MTG ↔ IFG). This between-group comparison controls for the general effects of musical training, although FA was still higher in singers compared to non-musicians. Both musician groups had higher tract volumes in the right dorsal and ventral tracts compared to non-musicians, but did not show a significant difference between each other. Furthermore, in the singers’ group, FA in the left dorsal branch of the AF was inversely correlated with the number of years of participants’ vocal training. Our findings suggest that long-term vocal–motor training might lead to an increase in volume and microstructural complexity of specific white-matter tracts connecting regions that are fundamental to sound perception, production, and its feedforward and feedback control which can be differentiated from a more general musician effect.
Highlights
IntroductionThere has been increased interest in the use of musicians to examine brain adaptation in response to intense and longterm training of musical skills (Trainor et al, 1999; Ross et al, 2003; Bengtsson et al, 2005; Koelsch et al, 2005; Zatorre et al, 2007; Hyde et al, 2009; Moreno et al, 2009; Oechslin et al, 2009; Schlaug et al, 2009a; Wan and Schlaug, 2010b)
The arcuate fasciculus (AF) has direct fibers connecting the middle and superior temporal gyrus (STG) with inferior frontal regions, but may have an indirect fiber system connecting the temporal lobe with the inferior parietal lobulus and the parietal lobulus with frontal lobe regions (Catani et al, 2005; Glasser and Rilling, 2008)
We examined the connectivity of the AF and its dorsal and ventral branch, which connects the STG, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MR imaging technique that enables the visualization and quantitative assessment of whitematter pathways in the brain (Basser et al, 1994, 2000; Makris et al, 1997, 2005; Catani and Thiebaut De Schotten, 2008)
Summary
There has been increased interest in the use of musicians to examine brain adaptation in response to intense and longterm training of musical skills (Trainor et al, 1999; Ross et al, 2003; Bengtsson et al, 2005; Koelsch et al, 2005; Zatorre et al, 2007; Hyde et al, 2009; Moreno et al, 2009; Oechslin et al, 2009; Schlaug et al, 2009a; Wan and Schlaug, 2010b). Regions in the superior temporal lobe, inferior frontal areas, and the associated premotor and motor regions are involved in the feedforward and feedback control of singing (Pantev et al, 1998; Maess et al, 2001; Levitin and Menon, 2003; Brown et al, 2004; Ozdemir et al, 2006). This fronto-temporal network of brain regions is connected via the arcuate fasciculus (AF), a prominent white-matter tract which, in its horizontal part, may share some components with the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF).
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