Abstract
When reviewing the literature on brain substrates of music processing,
a puzzling variety of findings can be stated. The traditional view
of a left-right dichotomy of brain organization--assuming that in
contrast to language, music is primarily processed in the right hemisphere--was
challenged 20 years ago, when the influence of music education on
brain lateralization was demonstrated. Modern concepts emphasize
the modular organization of music cognition. According to this viewpoint,
different aspects of music are processed in different, although partly
overlapping neuronal networks of both hemispheres. However, even
when isolating a single "module," such as, for example, the perception
of contours, the interindividual variance of brain substrates is
enormous. To clarify the factors contributing to this variability,
we conducted a longitudinal experiment comparing the effects of procedural
versus explicit music teaching on brain networks. We demonstrated
that cortical activation during music processing reflects the auditory
"learning biography," the personal experiences accumulated over time.
Listening to music, learning to play an instrument, formal instruction,
and professional training result in multiple, in many instances multisensory,
representations of music, which seem to be partly interchangeable
and rapidly adaptive. In summary, as soon as we consider "real music"
apart from laboratory experiments, we have to expect individually
formed and quickly adaptive brain substrates, including widely distributed
neuronal networks in both hemispheres.
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