Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
Department of Education and Culture of the Canton of Thurgau, CH-8500, Frauenfeld, Switzerland.
Cereb Cortex. 2018 Apr 1;28(4):1209-1218. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx033.
As a functional homolog for left-hemispheric syntax processing in language, neuroimaging studies evidenced involvement of right prefrontal regions in musical syntax processing, of which underlying white matter connectivity remains unexplored so far. In the current experiment, we investigated the underlying pathway architecture in subjects with 3 levels of musical expertise. Employing diffusion tensor imaging tractography, departing from seeds from our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging study on music syntax processing in the same participants, we identified a pathway in the right ventral stream that connects the middle temporal lobe with the inferior frontal cortex via the extreme capsule, and corresponds to the left hemisphere ventral stream, classically attributed to syntax processing in language comprehension. Additional morphometric consistency analyses allowed dissociating tract core from more dispersed fiber portions. Musical expertise related to higher tract consistency of the right ventral stream pathway. Specifically, tract consistency in this pathway predicted the sensitivity for musical syntax violations. We conclude that enduring musical practice sculpts ventral stream architecture. Our results suggest that training-related pathway plasticity facilitates the right hemisphere ventral stream information transfer, supporting an improved sound-to-meaning mapping in music.
作为语言左半球句法处理的功能同源物，神经影像学研究表明，右前额区域参与了音乐句法处理，而目前尚未探索其潜在的白质连通性。在当前的实验中，我们在具有 3 个音乐专业水平的受试者中研究了潜在的通路结构。我们使用弥散张量成像追踪技术，从我们之前关于同一参与者音乐句法处理的功能磁共振成像研究的种子出发，确定了一条通路，该通路通过极囊将颞中回与额下回连接起来，与经典的语言理解中句法处理相关的左侧半球腹侧流相对应。此外，形态一致性分析允许将束核与更分散的纤维部分分开。音乐专业知识与右侧腹侧流通路的更高束一致性相关。具体来说，该通路中的束一致性预测了对音乐句法违规的敏感性。我们得出结论，持久的音乐练习塑造了腹侧流结构。我们的结果表明，与训练相关的通路可塑性促进了右半球腹侧流信息传递，支持音乐中声音到意义映射的改善。
