title: Extensive piano practicing has regionally specific effects on white matter development.
abstract: Using diffusion tensor imaging, we investigated effects of piano practicing in childhood, adolescence and adulthood on white matter, and found positive correlations between practicing and fiber tract organization in different regions for each age period. For childhood, practicing correlations were extensive and included the pyramidal tract, which was more structured in pianists than in non-musicians. Long-term training within critical developmental periods may thus induce regionally specific plasticity in myelinating tracts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sara L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bengtsson
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skare
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Forsman
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Forssberg
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ullén
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000502:physiology; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis