Margulis Elizabeth Hellmuth, Mlsna Lauren M, Uppunda Ajith K, Parrish Todd B, Wong Patrick C M
Department of Music, University of Arkansas, MB201, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2009 Jan;30(1):267-75. doi: 10.1002/hbm.20503.
To appropriately adapt to constant sensory stimulation, neurons in the auditory system are tuned to various acoustic characteristics, such as center frequencies, frequency modulations, and their combinations, particularly those combinations that carry species-specific communicative functions. The present study asks whether such tunings extend beyond acoustic and communicative functions to auditory self-relevance and expertise. More specifically, we examined the role of the listening biography--an individual's long term experience with a particular type of auditory input--on perceptual-neural plasticity. Two groups of expert instrumentalists (violinists and flutists) listened to matched musical excerpts played on the two instruments (J.S. Bach Partitas for solo violin and flute) while their cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured using fMRI. Our experimental design allowed for a comprehensive investigation of the neurophysiology (cerebral hemodynamic responses as measured by fMRI) of auditory expertise (i.e., when violinists listened to violin music and when flutists listened to flute music) and nonexpertise (i.e., when subjects listened to music played on the other instrument). We found an extensive cerebral network of expertise, which implicates increased sensitivity to musical syntax (BA 44), timbre (auditory association cortex), and sound-motor interactions (precentral gyrus) when listening to music played on the instrument of expertise (the instrument for which subjects had a unique listening biography). These findings highlight auditory self-relevance and expertise as a mechanism of perceptual-neural plasticity, and implicate neural tuning that includes and extends beyond acoustic and communication-relevant structures.
为了适当地适应持续的感官刺激，听觉系统中的神经元会被调整到各种声学特征，如中心频率、频率调制及其组合，特别是那些具有物种特异性交流功能的组合。本研究探讨这种调谐是否超出声学和交流功能，延伸到听觉自我相关性和专业技能。更具体地说，我们研究了聆听经历（个体对特定类型听觉输入的长期体验）对感知神经可塑性的作用。两组专业乐器演奏者（小提琴家和长笛演奏家）聆听用这两种乐器演奏的匹配音乐片段（J.S.巴赫的小提琴和长笛独奏组曲），同时使用功能磁共振成像测量他们的脑血流动力学反应。我们的实验设计允许全面研究听觉专业技能（即小提琴家听小提琴音乐时长笛演奏家听长笛音乐时）和非专业技能（即受试者听用另一种乐器演奏的音乐时）的神经生理学（通过功能磁共振成像测量的脑血流动力学反应）。我们发现了一个广泛的专业技能脑网络，这意味着当聆听用专业技能乐器（受试者有独特聆听经历的乐器）演奏的音乐时，对音乐句法（BA 44）、音色（听觉联合皮层）和声音 - 运动相互作用（中央前回）的敏感性增加。这些发现突出了听觉自我相关性和专业技能作为感知神经可塑性的一种机制，并暗示了包括并超越声学和与交流相关结构的神经调谐。
