title: Shared networks for auditory and motor processing in professional pianists: evidence from fMRI conjunction.
abstract: To investigate cortical auditory and motor coupling in professional musicians, we compared the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity of seven pianists to seven non-musicians utilizing a passive task paradigm established in a previous learning study. The tasks involved either passively listening to short piano melodies or pressing keys on a mute MRI-compliant piano keyboard. Both groups were matched with respect to age and gender, and did not exhibit any overt performance differences in the keypressing task. The professional pianists showed increased activity compared to the non-musicians in a distributed cortical network during both the acoustic and the mute motion-related task. A conjunction analysis revealed a distinct musicianship-specific network being co-activated during either task type, indicating areas involved in auditory-sensorimotor integration. This network is comprised of dorsolateral and inferior frontal cortex (including Broca's area), the superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke's area), the supramarginal gyrus, and supplementary motor and premotor areas.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hanover University of Music and Drama, Hohenzollernstrasse 47, D-30161 Hanover, Germany. bangert@gmx.com
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bangert
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peschel
authors.forename: Gottfried
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schlaug
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rotte
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Drescher
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
authors.forename: Hans-Jochen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altenmüller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009146:Music; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis