Abstract
To appropriately adapt to constant sensory stimulation, neurons in
the auditory system are tuned to various acoustic characteristics,
such as center frequencies, frequency modulations, and their combinations,
particularly those combinations that carry species-specific communicative
functions. The present study asks whether such tunings extend beyond
acoustic and communicative functions to auditory self-relevance and
expertise. More specifically, we examined the role of the listening
biography--an individual's long term experience with a particular
type of auditory input--on perceptual-neural plasticity. Two groups
of expert instrumentalists (violinists and flutists) listened to
matched musical excerpts played on the two instruments (J.S. Bach
Partitas for solo violin and flute) while their cerebral hemodynamic
responses were measured using fMRI. Our experimental design allowed
for a comprehensive investigation of the neurophysiology (cerebral
hemodynamic responses as measured by fMRI) of auditory expertise
(i.e., when violinists listened to violin music and when flutists
listened to flute music) and nonexpertise (i.e., when subjects listened
to music played on the other instrument). We found an extensive cerebral
network of expertise, which implicates increased sensitivity to musical
syntax (BA 44), timbre (auditory association cortex), and sound-motor
interactions (precentral gyrus) when listening to music played on
the instrument of expertise (the instrument for which subjects had
a unique listening biography). These findings highlight auditory
self-relevance and expertise as a mechanism of perceptual-neural
plasticity, and implicate neural tuning that includes and extends
beyond acoustic and communication-relevant structures.
- (psychology),recognition
- (psychology):
- acoustic
- adult,music,musicality,neuro,perception
- aged,music,music:
- anatomy
- circulation,cerebrovascular
- circulation:
- cortex,cerebral
- cortex:
- histology,cerebral
- imaging,male,middle
- laterality,functional
- laterality:
- mapping,cerebral
- perception,auditory
- perception:
- performance,psychomotor
- performance:
- physiology,brain
- physiology,cerebrovascular
- physiology,female,functional
- physiology,humans,learning,learning:
- physiology,magnetic
- physiology,neuropsychological
- physiology,recognition
- physiology,young
- plasticity,neuronal
- plasticity:
- psychology,neuronal
- resonance
- stimulation,adolescent,adult,auditory
- tests,observer
- variation,psychomotor
- \&
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