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Beatboxers and Guitarists Engage Sensorimotor Regions Selectively When Listening to the Instruments They can Play.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Krishnan, Saloni 
Lima, César F 
Evans, Samuel 
Chen, Sinead 
Guldner, Stella 

Abstract

Studies of classical musicians have demonstrated that expertise modulates neural responses during auditory perception. However, it remains unclear whether such expertise-dependent plasticity is modulated by the instrument that a musician plays. To examine whether the recruitment of sensorimotor regions during music perception is modulated by instrument-specific experience, we studied nonclassical musicians-beatboxers, who predominantly use their vocal apparatus to produce sound, and guitarists, who use their hands. We contrast fMRI activity in 20 beatboxers, 20 guitarists, and 20 nonmusicians as they listen to novel beatboxing and guitar pieces. All musicians show enhanced activity in sensorimotor regions (IFG, IPC, and SMA), but only when listening to the musical instrument they can play. Using independent component analysis, we find expertise-selective enhancement in sensorimotor networks, which are distinct from changes in attentional networks. These findings suggest that long-term sensorimotor experience facilitates access to the posterodorsal "how" pathway during auditory processing.

Description

Keywords

Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Auditory Perception, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Music, Neuronal Plasticity, Professional Competence, Sensorimotor Cortex

Journal Title

Cerebral Cortex

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1460-2199
1460-2199

Volume Title

28

Publisher

Oxford University Press
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (MC_U105559837)
Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00005/10)
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant number WT090961MA awarded to S.K.S.).