Puschmann Sebastian, Özyurt Jale, Uppenkamp Stefan, Thiel Christiane M
aBiological Psychology, Department of Psychology bCluster of Excellence 'Hearing4all' cMedical Physics, Department of Physics dResearch Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Neuroreport. 2013 Oct 23;24(15):841-5. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3283650e1e.
Previous work compellingly shows the existence of functional and structural differences in human auditory cortex related to superior musical abilities observed in professional musicians. In this study, we investigated the relationship between musical abilities and auditory cortex activity in normal listeners who had not received a professional musical education. We used functional MRI to measure auditory cortex responses related to auditory stimulation per se and the processing of pitch and pitch changes, which represents a prerequisite for the perception of musical sequences. Pitch-evoked responses in the right lateral portion of Heschl's gyrus were correlated positively with the listeners' musical abilities, which were assessed using a musical aptitude test. In contrast, no significant relationship was found for noise stimuli, lacking any musical information, and for responses induced by pitch changes. Our results suggest that superior musical abilities in normal listeners are reflected by enhanced neural encoding of pitch information in the auditory system.
先前的研究有力地表明，人类听觉皮层在功能和结构上存在差异，这与专业音乐家所具备的卓越音乐能力有关。在本研究中，我们调查了未接受过专业音乐教育的正常听众的音乐能力与听觉皮层活动之间的关系。我们使用功能磁共振成像来测量与听觉刺激本身以及音高和音高变化处理相关的听觉皮层反应，而音高和音高变化处理是感知音乐序列的先决条件。在受试者通过音乐能力测试评估的音乐能力与位于颞横回右侧部分的音高诱发反应之间，发现了正相关关系。相比之下，对于缺乏任何音乐信息的噪声刺激以及音高变化所诱发的反应，未发现显著关系。我们的结果表明，正常听众的卓越音乐能力通过听觉系统中增强的音高信息神经编码得以体现。
