Increased auditory cortical representation in musicians (original) (raw)
- Letter
- Published: 01 April 1998
- Robert Oostenveld1,
- Almut Engelien2,
- Bernhard Ross1,
- Larry E. Roberts3 &
- …
- Manfried Hoke1
Nature volume 392, pages 811–814 (1998)Cite this article
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Abstract
Acoustic stimuli are processed throughout the auditory projection pathway, including the neocortex, by neurons that are aggregated into ‘tonotopic’ maps according to their specific frequency tunings1,2,3. Research on animals has shown that tonotopic representations are not statically fixed in the adult organism but can reorganize after damage to the cochlea4 or after training the intact subject to discriminate between auditory stimuli5. Here we used functional magnetic source imaging (single dipole model) to measure cortical representations in highly skilled musicians. Dipole moments for piano tones, but not for pure tones of similar fundamental frequency (matched in loudness), were found to be enlarged by about 25% in musicians compared with control subjects who had never played an instrument. Enlargement was correlated with the age at which musicians began to practise and did not differ between musicians with absolute or relative pitch. These results, when interpreted with evidence for modified somatosensory representations of the fingering digits in skilled violinists6, suggest that use-dependent functional reorganization extends across the sensory cortices to reflect the pattern of sensory input processed by the subject during development of musical skill.
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Acknowledgements
We thank our subjects for their cooperation, K. Berning for assistance and A.Wollbrink for engineering. This research was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and NATO.
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Authors and Affiliations
- Biomagnetism Center, Institute of Experimental Audiology, University of Mnster, D-48129, Mnster, Germany
Christo Pantev, Robert Oostenveld, Bernhard Ross & Manfried Hoke - Neurology Department, University of Mnster, D-48129, Mnster, Germany
Almut Engelien - Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, L8S 4K1, Ontario, Canada
Larry E. Roberts
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- Christo Pantev
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Correspondence toChristo Pantev.
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Pantev, C., Oostenveld, R., Engelien, A. et al. Increased auditory cortical representation in musicians.Nature 392, 811–814 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33918
- Received: 01 August 1997
- Accepted: 20 January 1998
- Published: 01 April 1998
- Issue Date: 23 April 1998
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/33918