Neuroplasticity

Conductors’ brains ‘flash positive’ on hearing a deviant noise in their periphery

2 Comments / Attention, Musician, Neuroplasticity / By

Title of paper under discussion The fate of sounds in conductors’ brains: an ERP study Authors Wido Nager, Christine Kohlmetz, Eckart Altenmüller, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells and Thomas F. Münte Journal Cognitive Brain Research, 17 (2003) pp 83–93 Link to paper (free access) Overview Based in Hannover, Germany, this research team set out to test the hypothesis …

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Music is processed in ‘visual areas’ of a blind musician’s brain

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Title of paper under discussion Cortical plasticity in an early blind musician: an fMRl study Authors David A. Ross, Ingrid R. Olson, John C. Gore Journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, vol 21 (2003) pp 821–828 Link to paper (free access) Overview Blindness is often reckoned to be associated with a high level of musical competence, “perhaps …

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Musicians’ brains use ‘sight-reading area’ to excel at 3D mental rotation

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Title of paper under discussion Broca’s Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians Authors Vanessa Sluming, Jonathan Brooks, Matthew Howard, John Joseph Downes and Neil Roberts Journal Journal of Neuroscience 4 April 2007,  27 (14) 3799-3806 Link to paper (free access) Overview In solving freshly presented 3D mental rotation puzzles, members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) consistently demonstrated levels of skill …

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Musicians’ brains look younger

1 Comment / Aging, Musician, Neuroplasticity / By

Title of paper under discussion Keeping brains young with making music Authors Lars Rogenmoser, Julius Kernbach, Gottfried Schlaug and Christian Gaser Journal Brain Structure and Function (2018) 223:297–305 Link to paper (free access) Overview Already known for its effect on brain development and its potential to help brain rehabilitation, might music-making have a further benefit: …

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Musicians’ brains have an enlarged speech area – and it keeps growing with experience

2 Comments / Lateralisation, Mirror neuron, Musician, Neuroplasticity / By

Title of paper under discussion Increased Gray Matter Volume of Left Pars Opercularis in Male Orchestral Musicians Correlate Positively With Years of Musical Performance Authors Ihssan A. Abdul-Kareem, Andrej Stancak, Laura M. Parkes and Vanessa Sluming Journal JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING 33:24–32 (2011) Link to paper (free access) Overview Broca’s area, a region in the left …

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Interrupted cadences trigger musicians’ right hemispheres within 200 milliseconds

4 Comments / Auditory Discrimination, Emotion, Lateralisation, Musician, Neuroplasticity / By

Title of paper under discussion Early neuronal responses in right limbic structures mediate harmony incongruity processing in musical experts Authors Clara E. James, Juliane Britz, Patrik Vuilleumier, Claude-Alain Hauert, Christoph M. Michel Journal NeuroImage, Volume 42, Issue 4, 1 October 2008, Pages 1597-1608 Link to journal (open access) Overview Reckoning that interrupted cadences “should evoke a …

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Professional musicians display more focussed brain activation than amateurs during performance (real or imaginary)

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Title of paper under discussion The musician’s brain: functional imaging of amateurs and professionals during performance and imagery Authors M. Lotze, G. Scheler, H.-R.M. Tan, C. Braun and N. Birbaumera Journal NeuroImage, Volume 20, Issue 3, November 2003, Pages 1817-1829 Link to original paper (open access) Overview In order to investigate the differences that a musical training …

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Improvisers have stronger connections between parts of their brains

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Title of paper under discussion Connecting to Create: Expertise in Musical Improvisation Is Associated with Increased Functional Connectivity between Premotor and Prefrontal Areas Authors Ana Luísa Pinho, Örjan de Manzano, Peter Fransson, Helene Eriksson and Fredrik Ullén Journal Journal of Neuroscience, 30 April 2014,  34 (18) 6156-6163 Link to original paper (open access) Overview This Swedish project set out to discover the effects of …

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Music lessons help language abilities in eight-year-olds

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Title of paper under discussion Musical Training Influences Linguistic Abilities in 8-Year-Old Children: More Evidence for Brain Plasticity Authors Sylvain Moreno,  Carlos Marques,  Andreia Santos,  Manuela Santos,  São Luís Castro, Mireille Besson Journal Cerebral Cortex, Volume 19, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 712–723 Link to original paper (open access) Overview The idea that passively listening to music can improve your …

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One half of a musician’s brain inhibits the other to finesse evenness in timing

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Title of paper under discussion Relationship between Interhemispheric Inhibition and Dexterous Hand Performance in Musicians and Non-musicians Authors Yi-Ling Kuo, Jason J. Kutch & Beth E. Fisher  Journal Nature, Scientific Reports, volume 9, Article number: 11574 (2019)  Link to original paper (open access) Overview The ability of the brain’s two hemispheres to ‘talk to one another’ is down to hundreds of millions interhemispheric …

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