White matter neuroplasticity as a function of musical vs motor skill training
Poster No:
1296
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Poulami Kar1, Bhoomika Kar2
Institutions:
1Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS), University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, 2Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
First Author:
Poulami Kar
Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS), University of Allahabad
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS), University of Allahabad
Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
Co-Author:
Introduction:
Feature-based representation of music perception skills pertaining to tonal (melody, pitch), qualitative (tuning, timbre, embedded rhythm) and temporal features (tempo, accent, rhythm), varies as function of musical training. Musical training enhances these skills by developing neuroplasticity in certain white matter tracts (Rajan et al., 2021). We studied construction of music perception through its acoustic features using PROMS-S (Profile of Music Perception Skills, Law & Zentner, 2012) as a function of musical vs motor skill training. This is in view of the more universal temporal features (tempo and rhythm) of music and parallels/dissociation it may have with the neuroplastic effects of motor skills training. The integrity of white matter tracts, specifically Corpus Callosum (CC) and Internal Capsule (IC) across musicians, non-musicians with and without motor skill training was examined using Diffusion Tensor Imaging.
Methods:
62 participants [23 musicians (primarily instrumentalists), 23 non-musicians without motor training and 16 non-musicians with motor skills training, mean age: 28±5 years, 29 females] performed PROMS-S offline including 8 subtests of perceptual features of music, namely, melody, rhythm, embedded rhythm, tuning, tempo, accent, timbre and pitch. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to reduce dimensionality. Group-wise PCA was performed to observe how music vs motor training modulates the construction of PC1. Factor analysis was performed to investigate the unique features of music for each group. For the neuroimaging study, we used FSL to measure Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in CC (genu, body, splenium) and IC for all three groups using Tract Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) and its correlation with performance on PROMS-S. FA in CC and IC was expected to be correlated with music perception skills, especially temporal features.
Results:
PCA was performed in R v4.3.2. PROMS-S sub-scores of melody, tempo, accent and timbre showed high loadings for musicians while embedded rhythm, tempo, accent and pitch showed higher loadings for nonmusicians with motor training. Nonmusicians without motor training showed high loadings for tempo, tuning, accent and timbre however none emerged as unique features. For musicians, melody, embedded rhythm and tuning emerged as unique features. For nonmusicians with motor training tempo uniquely defined music perception. From neuroimaging data, fiber integrity (FA) in CC and both left and right IC was correlated with sub-scores of PROMS-S (Fig 1).
Conclusions:
In PROMS-S, tempo significantly contributed to PC1 across all three groups suggesting that perception of tempo may not be dependent on training (musical or motor) and it is a universal characteristic of music. While nonmusicians with motor skill training (Frizzell et al., 2020) and musicians (Schmithorst & Wilke, 2002) may engage left and right IC (Fig 2) for processing temporal features, nonmusicians without motor skills training may engage splenium (Fig 2) to process embedded rhythm. Hence, IC appears to be training-specific tract for beat perception. Musicians engage the body of CC for processing beat-based stimuli (enhanced interhemispheric connectivity for sensory-motor integration, Steele et al., 2013), nonmusicians with motor training engage genu for same. Nonmusicians without motor training showed higher FA in genu (motor) as well as splenium (sensory) of CC correlated with embedded rhythm. The processing of temporal features of music in musicians vs nonmusicians showed a double dissociation within CC. These results also find support from the finding that lesion in the anterior part of CC leads to motor disruption whereas lesion in the posterior part of CC leads to auditory disruption in a rhythm perception/expression task (Nakamura et al., 1984). Thus, motor skill training may moderate the neuroplastic effects of musical training in CC and IC with implications for therapeutic interventions.
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Diffusion MRI Modeling and Analysis 1
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling
Motor Behavior:
Motor Planning and Execution 2
Keywords:
fMRI CONTRAST MECHANISMS
Motor
Tractography
WHITE MATTER IMAGING - DTI, HARDI, DSI, ETC
Other - Music Perception
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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2. Law, L. N., & Zentner, M. (2012). Assessing musical abilities objectively: construction and validation of the profile of music perception skills. PloS one, 7(12), e52508.
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6. Steele, C. J., Bailey, J. A., Zatorre, R. J., & Penhune, V. B. (2013). Early musical training and white-matter plasticity in the corpus callosum: evidence for a sensitive period. The Journal of neuroscience: the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33(3), 1282–1290