title: Sensorimotor integration is enhanced in dancers and musicians.
abstract: Studying individuals with specialized training, such as dancers and musicians, provides an opportunity to investigate how intensive practice of sensorimotor skills affects behavioural performance across various domains. While several studies have found that musicians have improved motor, perceptual and sensorimotor integration skills compared to untrained controls, fewer studies have examined the effect of dance training on such skills. Moreover, no study has specifically compared the effects of dance versus music training on perceptual or sensorimotor performance. To this aim, in the present study, expert dancers, expert musicians and untrained controls were tested on a range of perceptual and sensorimotor tasks designed to discriminate performance profiles across groups. Dancers performed better than musicians and controls on a dance imitation task (involving whole-body movement), but musicians performed better than dancers and controls on a musical melody discrimination task as well as on a rhythm synchronization task (involving finger tapping). These results indicate that long-term intensive dance and music training are associated with distinct enhancements in sensorimotor skills. This novel work advances knowledge of the effects of long-term dance versus music training and has potential applications in therapies for motor disorders.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Pavillon 1420 Mont Royal, Succ. Centre Ville, CP 6128, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada. falisha.karpati@mail.mcgill.ca.|Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. falisha.karpati@mail.mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Falisha J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Karpati
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Pavillon 1420 Mont Royal, Succ. Centre Ville, CP 6128, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.|Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giacosa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Pavillon 1420 Mont Royal, Succ. Centre Ville, CP 6128, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.|Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicholas E V
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Pavillon 1420 Mont Royal, Succ. Centre Ville, CP 6128, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.|Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Virginia B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Penhune
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Pavillon 1420 Mont Royal, Succ. Centre Ville, CP 6128, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada.|Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.|Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Krista L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hyde
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003615:Dancing / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009146:Music; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D018910:Video Games; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dance video game; Dancers; Melody; Musicians; Rhythm; Sensorimotor integration