Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
Address for correspondence: Gottfried Schlaug, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215. Voice: 617-667-8202; fax: 617-667-8695.
gschlaug{at}caregroup.harvard.edu
Musicians form an ideal subject pool in which one can investigate
possible cerebral adaptations to unique requirements of skilled
performance as well as cerebral correlates of unique musical
abilities such as absolute pitch and others. There are several
reasons for this. First, the commencement of musical training
usually occurs when the brain and its components may still be
able to adapt. Second, musicians undergo long-term motor training
and continued practice of complicated bimanual motor activity.
Third, imaging studies from our group as well as other groups
have shown that motor learning and the acquisition of skills
can lead to changes in the representation of motor maps and
possibly also to microstructural changes. Whether the unique
musical abilities and structural differences that musicians'
brains show are due to learning, perhaps during critical periods
of brain development and maturation, or whether they reflect
innate abilities and capacities that might be fostered by early
exposure to music is largely unknown. We will report studies
that indicate that certain regions in the brain (corpus callosum,
motor cortex, cerebellum) may show some form of adaptation to
extraordinary challenges and requirements of performance. These
challenges may eventually lead to functional and structural
cerebral changes to accommodate the requirements for musical
performance. Furthermore, we will also show the neural correlates
of one unique musical ability, absolute pitch. This ability
may be linked to one structure in the human brain (planum temporale),
which is preferentially activated in musicians who have absolute
pitch during tone tasks. This structure may undergo some form
of functional plasticity that is possible only during a critical
period of brain development.
