Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training

This study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy (musicians: mean age 70.8 years, musical experience 52.7 years; non-musicians: mean age 71.4 years, no or less than 3 years of musical experience). Although previous research has demonstrated that young musicians have larger gray matter volume (GMV) in the auditory-motor cortices and cerebellum than non-musicians, little is known about older musicians. Music imagery in young musicians is also known to share a neural underpinning [the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and cerebellum] with music performance. Thus, we hypothesized that older musicians would show superiority to non-musicians in some of the abovementioned brain regions. Behavioral performance, GMV, and brain activity, including functional connectivity (FC) during melodic working memory (MWM) tasks, were evaluated in both groups. Behaviorally, musicians exhibited a much higher tapping speed than non-musicians, and tapping speed was correlated with executive function in musicians. Structural analyses revealed larger GMVs in both sides of the cerebellum of musicians, and importantly, this was maintained until very old age. Task-related FC analyses revealed that musicians possessed greater cerebellar-hippocampal FC, which was correlated with tapping speed. Furthermore, musicians showed higher activation in the SMG during MWM tasks; this was correlated with earlier commencement of instrumental training. These results indicate advantages or heightened coupling in brain regions associated with music performance and imagery in musicians. We suggest that lifelong instrumental training highly predicts the structural maintenance of the cerebellum and related cognitive maintenance in old age

Timing, kinematics, and the cerebellum: Tapping into differences between musicians and non-musicians

Musical performance relies on basic processes such as timing, and the synchronization of motor responses with environmental stimuli. The study of the effects of musical training on behaviour and the brain provides an opportunity to understand these processes and their neural correlates, particularly in relation to the cerebellum, a brain region implicated in timing. The first study presented here compared musicians and non-musicians on the standard sensorimotor synchronization task of finger tapping to a metronome, with and without tactile feedback. The results indicated that musicians differed from non-musicians in their use of kinematics and sensory information for synchronization. The second study focused on how musical training affects event-based and emergent timing in repetitive rhythmic tapping and drawing. Event-based timing has been shown to rely on an internal clock-like process that is independent of the motor response. Conversely, emergent timing establishes regular rhythmic movement by stabilizing kinematic parameters without reference to an explicit internal representation of time intervals. Musical training was associated with improved precision in event-based timing but not in emergent timing. For musicians only, the kinematic parameter of movement jerk was decoupled from timing variability in both event-based and emergent timing. These results support the dissociability of the two timing modes, highlight the limits of musical training, and show that the relationship between kinematics and timing is affected by musical expertise. The third study examined differences between musicians and non-musicians in a finger-tapping task, and in regional cerebellar volumes measured from magnetic resonance imaging data. Smaller volumes were associated with an earlier age of start of musical training, and with better timing performance. These findings are evidence for a sensitive period, before seven years, for initiation of musical training. Timing variability was associated with the volume of right Lobule VI, indicating localization of event-based timing to this region. The overall pattern of results suggests that musicians may be using sensory information to maintain timing in a more efficient and parsimonious manner compared to non-musicians. This is interpreted as evidence that musicians are using a top-down approach for many music-related tasks, in contrast to the bottom-up approach of non-musicians

Timing, kinematics, and the cerebellum: Tapping into differences between musicians and non-musicians

Musical performance relies on basic processes such as timing, and the synchronization of motor responses with environmental stimuli. The study of the effects of musical training on behaviour and the brain provides an opportunity to understand these processes and their neural correlates, particularly in relation to the cerebellum, a brain region implicated in timing. The first study presented here compared musicians and non-musicians on the standard sensorimotor synchronization task of finger tapping to a metronome, with and without tactile feedback. The results indicated that musicians differed from non-musicians in their use of kinematics and sensory information for synchronization. The second study focused on how musical training affects event-based and emergent timing in repetitive rhythmic tapping and drawing. Event-based timing has been shown to rely on an internal clock-like process that is independent of the motor response. Conversely, emergent timing establishes regular rhythmic movement by stabilizing kinematic parameters without reference to an explicit internal representation of time intervals. Musical training was associated with improved precision in event-based timing but not in emergent timing. For musicians only, the kinematic parameter of movement jerk was decoupled from timing variability in both event-based and emergent timing. These results support the dissociability of the two timing modes, highlight the limits of musical training, and show that the relationship between kinematics and timing is affected by musical expertise. The third study examined differences between musicians and non-musicians in a finger-tapping task, and in regional cerebellar volumes measured from magnetic resonance imaging data. Smaller volumes were associated with an earlier age of start of musical training, and with better timing performance. These findings are evidence for a sensitive period, before seven years, for initiation of musical training. Timing variability was associated with the volume of right Lobule VI, indicating localization of event-based timing to this region. The overall pattern of results suggests that musicians may be using sensory information to maintain timing in a more efficient and parsimonious manner compared to non-musicians. This is interpreted as evidence that musicians are using a top-down approach for many music-related tasks, in contrast to the bottom-up approach of non-musicians

The brain basis of piano performance

Performances of memorized piano compositions unfold via dynamic integrations of motor, perceptual, cognitive, and emotive operations. The functional neuroanatomy of such elaborately skilled achievements was characterized in the present study by using 150-water positron emission tomography to image blindfolded pianists performing a concerto by J.S. Bach. The resulting brain activity was referenced to that for bimanual performance of memorized major scales. Scales and concerto performances both activated primary motor cortex, corresponding somatosensory areas, inferior parietal cortex, supplementary motor area, motor cingulate, bilateral superior and middle temporal cortex, right thalamus, anterior and posterior cerebellum. Regions specifically supporting the concerto performance included superior and middle temporal cortex, planum polare, thalamus, basal ganglia, posterior cerebellum, dorsolateral premotor cortex, right insula, right supplementary motor area, lingual gyrus, and posterior cingulate. Areas specifically implicated in generating and playing scales were posterior cingulate, middle temporal, right middle frontal, and right precuneus cortices, with lesser increases in right hemispheric superior temporal, temporoparietal, fusiform, precuneus, and prefrontal cortices, along with left inferior frontal gyrus. Finally, much greater deactivations were present for playing the concerto than scales. This seems to reflect a deeper attentional focus in which tonically active orienting and evaluative processes, among others, are suspended. This inference is supported by observed deactivations in posterior cingulate, parahippocampus, precuneus, prefrontal, middle temporal, and posterior cerebellar cortices. For each of the foregoing analyses, a distributed set of interacting localized functions is outlined for future test

Neuroplasticity Subserving Motor Skill Learning

Recent years have seen significant progress in our understanding of the neural substrates of motor skill learning. Advances in neuroimaging provide new insight into functional reorganization associated with the acquisition, consolidation, and retention of motor skills. Plastic changes involving structural reorganization in gray and white matter architecture that occur over shorter time periods than previously thought have been documented as well. Data from experimental animals provided crucial information on plausible cellular and molecular substrates contributing to brain reorganization underlying skill acquisition in humans. Here, we review findings demonstrating functional and structural plasticity across different spatial and temporal scales that mediate motor skill learning while identifying converging areas of interest and possible avenues for future research

Musical training predicts cerebello-hippocampal coupling during music listening.

Cerebello-hippocampal interactions occur during accurate spatiotemporal prediction of movements. In the context of music listening, differences in cerebello-hippocampal functional connectivity may result from differences in predictive listening accuracy. Using functional MRI, we studied differences in this network between 18 musicians and 18 nonmusicians while they listened to music. Musicians possess a predictive listening advantage over nonmusicians, facilitated by strengthened coupling between produced and heard sounds through lifelong musical experience. Thus, we hypothesized that musicians would exhibit greater functional connectivity than nonmusicians as a marker of accurate online predictions during music listening. To this end, we estimated the functional connectivity between cerebellum and hippocampus as modulated by a perceptual measure of the predictability of the music. Results revealed increased predictability-driven functional connectivity in this network in musicians compared with nonmusicians, which was positively correlated with the length of musical training. Findings may be explained by musicians’ improved predictive listening accuracy. Our findings advance the understanding of cerebellar integrative function.Peer reviewe

Right Neural Substrates of Language and Music Processing Left Out: Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) and Meta-Analytic Connectivity Modelling (MACM)

Introduction: Language and music processing have been investigated in neuro-based research for over a century. However, consensus of independent and shared neural substrates among the domains remains elusive due to varying neuroimaging methodologies. Identifying functional connectivity in language and music processing via neuroimaging meta-analytic methods provides neuroscientific knowledge of higher cognitive domains and normative models may guide treatment development in communication disorders based on principles of neural plasticity. Methods: Using BrainMap software and tools, the present coordinate-based meta-analysis analyzed 65 fMRI studies investigating language and music processing in healthy adult subjects. We conducted activation likelihood estimates (ALE) in language processing, music processing, and language + music (Omnibus) processing. Omnibus ALE clusters were used to elucidate functional connectivity by use of meta-analytic connectivity modelling (MACM). Paradigm Class and Behavioral Domain analyses were completed for the ten identified nodes to aid functional MACM interpretation. Results: The Omnibus ALE revealed ten peak activation clusters (bilateral inferior frontal gyri, left medial frontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, left transverse temporal gyrus, bilateral claustrum, left superior parietal lobule, right precentral gyrus, and right anterior culmen). MACM demonstrates an interconnected network consisting of unidirectional and bidirectional connectivity. Subsequent analyses demonstrated nodal involvement across 44 BrainMap paradigms and 32 BrainMap domains. Discussion: These findings demonstrate functional connectivity among Omnibus areas of activation in language and music processing. We analyze ALE and MACM outcomes by comparing them to previously observed roles in cognitive processing and functional network connectivity. Finally, we discuss the importance of translational neuroimaging and need for normative models guiding intervention

Experience-dependent plasticity in cortical and cerebellar regions of early- and late-trained musicians

A body of current evidence suggests that there is a sensitive period for musical training: people who begin training before the age of seven show better performance on tests of musical skill, and also show differences in brain structure – especially in motor cortical and cerebellar regions – compared with those who start later. In two studies, we investigated distributed patterns of structural differences between early-trained (ET) and late-trained (LT) musicians. First, we examined structural covariation between cerebellar volume and cortical thickness (CT) in sensorimotor regions in ET and LT musicians and non-musicians (NMs). We found that early musical training had a specific effect on structural covariance between the cerebellum and cortex: NMs showed negative correlations between left lobule VI and right pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) and premotor cortex (PMC), but this relationship was reduced in ET musicians. ETs instead showed a significant negative correlation between vermal IV and right pre-SMA and dPMC. In the second study, we used support vector machine models – a subtype of supervised machine learning – to investigate cortico-cerebellar structural covariation and to better understand the age boundaries of the sensitive period for early musicianship. Our model identified a combination of 17 regions, including 9 cerebellar and 8 sensorimotor regions, that accurately identified ET and LT musicians with high sensitivity and specificity. Critically, this model – which defined ET musicians as those who began their training before the age of 7 – outperformed all other models in which age of start was earlier or later (between ages 5-10). Our model’s ability to accurately classify ET and LT musicians provides additional evidence that musical training before age 7 affects cortico-cerebellar structure in adulthood, and is consistent with the hypothesis that connected brain regions interact during development to reciprocally influence brain and behavioural maturation. Together, these results suggest that early musical training has differential impacts on the maturation of cortico-cerebellar networks important for optimizing sensorimotor performance. This work enriches our understanding of how experience-dependent plasticity is affected by early musical training, providing a more nuanced understanding of the interrelated nature of brain development