Abstract
Background: The human-specified ability to engage with different kinds of music in sophisticated ways is named “Musical Sophistication.” Herein, we investigated specific white matter (WM) tracts that are associated with musical sophistication and musicality in both genders, separately, using Diffusion MRI connectometry approach. We specifically aimed to explore potential sex differences regarding WM alterations correlated with musical sophistication.Methods: 123 healthy participants [70 (56.9%) were male, mean age = 36.80 ± 18.86 year], who were evaluated for musical sophistication using Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) self-assessment instrument from the LEMON database, were recruited in this study. The WM correlates of two Gold-MSI subscales (active engagement and music training) were analyzed. Images were prepared and analyzed with diffusion connectometry to construct the local connectome. Multiple regression models were then fitted to address the correlation of local connectomes with Gold-MSI components with the covariates of age and handedness.Results: a significant positive correlation between WM integrity in the corpus callosum (CC), right corticospinal tract (CST), cingulum, middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP), bilateral parieto-pontine tract, bilateral cerebellum, and left arcuate fasciculus (AF) and both active engagement [false discovery rate (FDR) = 0.008] and music training (FDR = 0.057) was detected in males. However, WM integrity in the body of CC, MCP, and cerebellum in females showed an inverse association with active engagement (FDR = 0.046) and music training (FDR = 0.032).Conclusion: WM microstructures with functional connection with motor and somatosensory areas (CST, cortico-pontine tracts, CC, cerebellum, cingulum, and MCP) and language processing area (AF) have significant correlation with music engagement and training. Our findings show that these associations are different between males and females, which could potentially account for distinctive mechanisms related to musical perception and musical abilities across genders.
Highlights
The human-specified ability and skills to engage with different kinds of music in ways with different sophistication degrees is named “Musical Sophistication” (Merriam and Merriam, 1964; Müllensiefen et al, 2014)
In light of the small number of studies investigating the WM alterations related to musicality and given the conflicting results that former studies presented, we aimed to investigate the brain white matter (WM) integrity to identify the microstructural patterns associated with musicality in general population
Results exhibited higher WM coherence in CC, Corticospinal Tract (CST), middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP), Arcuate Fasciculus (AF), cingulum, and parietopontine tract with a higher score in both investigated subscales of Gold-MSI and higher integrity in the cortico-thalamic tract, fronto-pontine tract, and cerebellum with higher active engagement, whereas findings related to the female participants showed a negative correlation between WM connectivity in CC and both investigated Gold-MSI subscales
Summary
The human-specified ability and skills to engage with different kinds of music in ways with different sophistication degrees is named “Musical Sophistication” (Merriam and Merriam, 1964; Müllensiefen et al, 2014). The majority of assessments employed for assessing musical ability (i.e., musicality) of individuals have been carried out in specific populations such as professionals in the field of music (e.g., musicians) or those who suffer from a pathological musical condition (e.g., amusia) (Brockmeier et al, 2011; Law and Zentner, 2012; Sato et al, 2015; Larrouy-Maestri et al, 2019) This vast omission in musicality testing paradigms led to the development of the recently developed batteries such as the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) selfassessment instrument (Müllensiefen et al, 2014). We aimed to explore potential sex differences regarding WM alterations correlated with musical sophistication
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