Lucía Vaquero|Karl Hartmann|Pablo Ripollés|Nuria Rojo|Joanna Sierpowska|François Clément|Estela Càmara|Floris T. van Vugt|Bahram Mohammadi|Amir Samii|Thomas F. Münte|Antoni Rodríguez?Fornells|Eckart Altenmüller
Structural neuroplasticity in expert pianists depends on the age of musical training onset
Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Medizinische Hochschule Hannover|Hanover University of Music Drama and Media|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Hanover University of Music Drama and Media|University of Lübeck|International Neuroscience Institute|International Neuroscience Institute|University of Lübeck|Duran i Reynals Hospital|Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge|Universitat de Barcelona|Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats|Hanover University of Music Drama and Media
last decade several studies investigated neuroplastic changes induced longterm musical training investigated structural brain differences expert pianists compared nonmusician controls well effect age onset aoo piano playing differences nonmusicians effect sensitive periods musicians studied previously importantly first time age onset musictraining assessed group musicians playing instrument controlling amount practice recruited homogeneous group expert pianists differed aoo lifetime present amount training compared agematched group nonmusicians subset pianists also completed scaleplaying task order control performance skill level differences voxelbased morphometry analysis used examine graymatter differences wholebrain level pianists showed greater gray matter gm volume bilateral putamen extending also hippocampus amygdala right thalamus bilateral lingual gyri left superior temporal gyrus gm volume shrinkage right supramarginal right superior temporal right postcentral gyri compared nonmusician controls results reveal complex pattern plastic effects due sustained musical training network involved reinforcement learning showed increased gm volume areas related sensorimotor control auditory processing scorereading presented reduction volume gm behaviorally earlyonset pianists showed higher temporal precision piano performance lateonset pianists especially left hand furthermore early onset piano playing associated smaller gm volume right putamen better piano performance mainly left hand results therefore reveal first time single large dataset healthy pianists link onset musical practice behavioral performance putaminal gray matter structure summary skillrelated plastic adaptations may include decreases increases gm volume dependent optimization system caused early start musical training believe findings enrich plasticity discourse shed light neural basis expert skill acquisition