Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Group, Department of Basic Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat, s/n., 12071, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.
Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, Institut de Neurociències, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Brain Struct Funct. 2020 Dec;225(9):2735-2744. doi: 10.1007/s00429-020-02151-1. Epub 2020 Oct 7.
Individual differences in pitch discrimination have been associated with the volume of both the bilateral Heschl's gyrus and the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). However, most of these studies used samples composed of individuals with different amounts of musical training. Here, we investigated the relationship between pitch discrimination and individual differences in the gray matter (GM) volume of these brain structures in 32 adult musicians, 28 adult non-musicians, and 32 children without musical training. The results showed that (i) the individuals without musical training (whether children or adults) who were better at pitch discrimination had greater volume of auditory regions, whereas (ii) musicians with better pitch discrimination had greater volume of the IFG. These results suggest that the relationship between pitch discrimination and the volume of auditory regions is innately established early in life, and that musical training modulates the volume of the IFG, probably improving audio-motor connectivity. This is the first study to detect a relationship between pitch discrimination ability and GM volume before beginning any musical training in children and adults.
个体在音高辨别能力上的差异与双侧 Heschl 回和右侧下额前回的体积都有关系。然而，这些研究中的大多数都使用了由具有不同音乐训练量的个体组成的样本。在这里，我们调查了 32 名成年音乐家、28 名成年非音乐家和 32 名没有音乐训练的儿童的这些脑结构的 GM 体积的个体差异与音高辨别能力之间的关系。结果表明，（i）在音高辨别能力方面表现更好的未经音乐训练的个体（无论是儿童还是成年人）具有更大的听觉区域体积，而（ii）音高辨别能力更好的音乐家具有更大的 IFG 体积。这些结果表明，音高辨别能力与听觉区域体积之间的关系是在生命早期就内在建立的，而音乐训练调节 IFG 的体积，可能改善音频运动的连通性。这是第一项在儿童和成人开始任何音乐训练之前，就检测到音高辨别能力与 GM 体积之间关系的研究。
