Neuroscience and music

What a Rare Condition Can Teach Us About the Power of Music The study of musical anhedonia—the inability to enjoy music—is revealing how music moves us.

Thrilled to share that The New Yorker featured my work on musical anhedonia - why some people don’t experience pleasure from music, and what this reveals about how our brains predict and process reward.
www.newyorker.com/culture/anna...
#neuroskyence #musicskyence #psychscisky

Although some of these multiregional differences could be attributable to innate predisposition, the authors believe they may represent structural adaptations in response to long-term skill acquisition and the repetitive rehearsal of those skills.

The authors note that musicians learn complex motor and auditory skills (e.g., the translation of visually perceived musical symbols into motor commands with simultaneous auditory monitoring of output), which they practice extensively from childhood throughout their entire careers.

Voxel by voxel comparisons of pro, amateur and non-musicians.

Glaset & Schlaug 2003. Brain structures differ between musicians and non-musicians
Gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory, and visual-spatial brain regions were found between pro musicians with amateur musicians and non-musicians.
cdn.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/blobs/6e...

Arguably the greatest concert film of all time. Of course, some would argue The Last Waltz or Woodstock or...

It appears to me that you have a very positive view of Trump. 😏

"These findings indicate that a specific brain state of musical creation is formed ... in which [neurons in] the primary visual and motor areas...are recruited to enhance the functional connectivity between the ACC and the default mode network to plan the integration of musical notes with emotion."

Row A shows areas of decreased connectivity, Row E areas of increased connectivity.

Jing Lu et al The Brain Functional State of Music Creation
doi: 10.1038/srep12277.
Compared composing vs resting state fMRI of 17 composers. Stronger functional connectivity appeared between anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right angular gyrus and bilateral superior frontal gyrus during composition.

"This collection explores the science of learning to move and its impact on cognition, how the neuropsychological aspects of the creative movement process is manifested in the brain, and how creative movement or dance can be harnessed to enhance health, cognitive function, and quality of life."

The latest issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has a special section entitled "Neuropsychological impact and mechanisms of creative movement: Implications for rehabilitation for aging, neurodegenerative disease, and neurotrauma." See link and abstract below. #neuroskyence

Trends in Cognitive Sciences Review Core systems of music perception Samuel A. Mehr 1 ,2 , * 1 School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Human musicality is supported by two distinct systems of representation: one for tonal perception, which contextualizes pitch input in reference to a hierarchy of tones; and one for metrical perception, which contextualizes temporal input in reference to a hierarchy of rhythmic groupings. Growing evidence suggests that the two systems are universal, automatic, encapsulated, and relatively early-developing. But like speech perception, and unlike several other perceptual systems, they appear to be uniquely human. The systems of tonal and metrical perception form a foundational structure for musicality that, when combined with the processing of other acoustical information (e.g., timbre or auditory scenes), and applied in conjunction with other cognitive domains, yields a human psychology of music.

my latest, in Trends in Cognitive Sciences

this review lays out what I think the fundamental specializations are for music perception in humans, namely, the hierarchical processing of pitch and rhythm

or, how our minds turn vibrating air into music

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lG9G_V1r-...

Curse of Neuroanatomy Training Part 4. Tessellation of Mona Lisa, but looks like gyri to us. Thanks to Dr. Jeff Browndyke. Original post by Kevin Atkinson Mathematical Tiling and Tessellation. #neuroskyence

"...and deactivation of angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, brain structures implicated in semantic processing of language... Therefore, we argue that neural regions for syntactic processing are not domain-specific for language but instead may be domain-general for communication."

Donnay et al doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088665
An fMRI Study of ‘Trading Fours’ in Jazz
Improvisation between musicians-->activation of perisylvian areas linked to processing of syntactic elements in music, including inferior frontal gyrus & posterior superior temporal gyrus... #neuroskyence

Gustavson et al doi: 10.1007/s10519-023-10135-0.
Parents reported on children's music experiences (N = 11,876 children). Instrument exposure... was associated with language (r = .27) and executive functions (r = .15-0.17), stronger than music listening, visual art, or soccer. #neuroskyence

For drummers: "The experience of groove is a trade-off between stimulus complexity (amount of syncopation) and the ability to maintain a sufficiently stable metre for moving in time with music."

Vuust, P et al doi: 10.1038/s41583-022-00578-5. Epub 2022 Mar 29. Music in the brain

Review of the cognitive neuroscience literature of music perception. Music perception, action, emotion & learning all rest on the human brain's fundamental capacity for prediction. #neuroskyence

Probably trying to maximize group differences

This hypothesis is supported by the strong association we found between structural differences, musician status, and practice intensity.

Although some of these multiregional differences could be attributable to innate predisposition, [authors] believe they may represent ... adaptations in response to long-term skill acquisition and the repetitive rehearsal of those skills.

Plot of grey matter differences in musicians

Gaser & Schlaug doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-27-09240.2003. Brain structures differ between musicians and non-musicians

Gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory, & visual-spatial brain regions in pro musicians vs matched group of amateur musicians and non-musicians...
#neuroskyence

Elbows up, Canada!

Elbows up, Canada.

💃🧠 Psyched to share my latest paper in Neuron on the past, present and future of dance neuroscience research! Crazy to think where this field will be in 20 more years 🚀

authors.elsevier.com/a/1kkh3_KOmx...

#PsychSciSky #neuroskyence #Dance #CognitiveNeuroscience #Neuroaesthetics #BrainScience

Strong, J doi: 10.1080/13825585.2018.1448356. The cognitive functioning of older adult... musicians and non-musicians
Adult non-musicians vs low-activity musicians vs and high-activity musicians. Differences found on tasks of visual spatial ability, naming, and executive functioning. #neuroskyence

Singing also enhanced short-term and working memory and caregiver well-being, whereas music listening had a positive effect on quality of life.

Särkämö, T et al doi: 10.1093/geront/gnt100.
Cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of regular musical activities in early dementia
Compared with usual care, both singing & music listening improved mood, orientation, remote episodic memory, also attention & executive function. #neuroskyence

More efficient for those who were trained vs untrained later in life. A good argument for music education in schools.

fMRI results showing areas of more efficient processing

Saarikivi et al 2023 doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhad034.

Advantage in executive functions in musically-trained vs not trained children is more pronounced at an earlier age than in late adolescence. But there was more efficient recruitment of neural resources executive tasks after childhood. #neuroskyence