Music and words in the visual cortex: The impact of musical expertise.
How does the human visual system accommodate expertise for two simultaneously acquired symbolic systems? We used fMRI to compare activations induced in the visual cortex by musical notation, written words and other classes of objects, in professional musicians and in musically naïve controls. First, irrespective of expertise, selective activations for music were posterior and lateral to activations for words in the left occipitotemporal cortex. This indicates that symbols characterized by different visual features engage distinct cortical areas. Second, musical expertise increased the volume of activations for music and led to an anterolateral displacement of word-related activations. In musicians, there was also a dramatic increase of the brain-scale networks connected to the music-selective visual areas. Those findings reveal that acquiring a double visual expertise involves an expansion of category-selective areas, the development of novel long-distance functional connectivity, and possibly some competition between categories for the colonization of cortical space.
Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, Paris, France.
Valeria
V
Mongelli
Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Gif/Yvette, France.
Stanislas
S
Dehaene
Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, Paris, France.
Fabien
F
Vinckier
International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
Isabelle
I
Peretz
Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, Paris, France; Department of Psychology, Catholic University, Milan, Italy.
Paolo
P
Bartolomeo
Inserm, U 1127, Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR S 1127, Paris, France; AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Department of Neurology, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, Paris, France; Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, ICM, Paris, France. Electronic address: laurentcohen2@gmail.com.
Laurent
L
Cohen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Expertise; Language; Music; Reading; Vision; fMRI