title: Structural and functional plasticity specific to musical training with wind instruments.
abstract: Numerous neuroimaging studies have shown structural and functional changes resulting from musical training. Among these studies, changes in primary sensory areas are mostly related to motor functions. In this study, we looked for some similar functional and structural changes in other functional modalities, such as somatosensory function, by examining the effects of musical training with wind instruments. We found significant changes in two aspects of neuroplasticity, cortical thickness, and resting-state neuronal networks. A group of subjects with several years of continuous musical training and who are currently playing in university wind ensembles showed differences in cortical thickness in lip- and tongue-related brain areas vs. non-music playing subjects. Cortical thickness in lip-related brain areas was significantly thicker and that in tongue-related areas was significantly thinner in the music playing group compared with that in the non-music playing group. Association analysis of lip-related areas in the music playing group showed that the increase in cortical thickness was caused by musical training. In addition, seed-based correlation analysis showed differential activation in the precentral gyrus and supplementary motor areas (SMA) between the music and non-music playing groups. These results suggest that high-intensity training with specific musical instruments could induce structural changes in related anatomical areas and could also generate a new functional neuronal network in the brain.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University of Medicine and Science Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Uk-Su
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Kansei Fukushi Research Institute, Tohoku Fukushi University Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Yul-Wan
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.affiliation: Reid School of Music, Edinburgh College of Art, Institute for Music and Human Society Development, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Sujin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University of Medicine and Science Incheon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jun-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Kansei Fukushi Research Institute, Tohoku Fukushi University Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogawa
keywords: cortical thickness; musical training; neuronal plasticity; resting-state network; wind instruments