Extensive piano practicing has regionally specific effects on white matter development.
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.
Bengtsson
Sara L
SL
Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Nagy
Zoltán
Z
Skare
Stefan
S
Forsman
Lea
L
Forssberg
Hans
H
Ullén
Fredrik
F
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