Neural Plasticity in a French Horn Player with Bilateral Amelia.

Daniel S Scholz,Marcus Heldmann,Thomas F Münte,Bahram Mohammadi,Eckart Altenmüller,Michael Borich

doi:10.1155/2021/4570135

Abstract

Precise control of movement and timing play a key role in musical performance. This motor skill requires coordination across multiple joints, muscles, and limbs, which is acquired through extensive musical training from childhood on. Thus, making music can be a strong driver for neuroplasticity. We here present the rare case of a professional french horn player with a congenital bilateral amelia of the upper limbs. We were able to show a unique cerebral and cerebellar somatotopic representation of his toe and feet, that do not follow the characteristic patterns of contralateral cortical and ipsilateral cerebellar layout. Although being a professional horn player who trained his embouchure muscles, including tongue, pharyngeal, and facial muscle usage excessively, there were no obvious signs for an expanded somatosensory representation in this part of the classic homunculus. Compared to the literature and in contrast to control subjects, the musicians' foot movement-related activations occurred in cerebellar areas that are typically more related to hand than to foot activation.

Highlights

We present the case of an 18 year-old male professional French horn player born with bilateral amelia of the upper extremities
An 18 year-old male professional French horn player born with bilateral amelia of the upper extremities was investigated
The analysis of the extracted percent signal change indicated for the footrelated Region of interest (ROI) (Figure 1(d): spheres 1 and 2), that the musician is not significantly different from the control group

Summary

Introduction

We present the case of an 18 year-old male professional French horn player born with bilateral amelia of the upper extremities (called “the musician” further on). He is pushing the valves of his instrument with the toes of his dominant left foot. He practiced music since his early childhood and was studying music at a prestigious conservatory in northern Germany at time of measurement. Due to his musical proficiency and the amount of daily practice, he can be considered a professional musician. Improvements in auditory perceptual skills [10,11,12,13,14] and sensorimotor learning [15,16,17] are accompanied by structural changes [18,19,20,21,22] reflecting the outlasting impact of music training on the human brain’s plasticity

Methods

Results

Conclusion