Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany; Psychology Department, International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, University of Montreal, Canada; Psychology Department, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany; Universitätsklinik für Neurochirurgie, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2021 Sep;238:118251. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118251. Epub 2021 Jun 8.
Evidence from language, visual and sensorimotor learning suggests that training early in life is more effective. The present work explores the hypothesis that learning during sensitive periods involves distinct brain networks in addition to those involved when learning later in life. Expert pianists were tested who started their musical training early (<7 years of age; n = 21) or late (n = 15), but were matched for total lifetime practice. Motor timing expertise was assessed using a musical scale playing task. Brain activity at rest was measured using fMRI and compared with a control group of nonmusicians (n = 17). Functional connectivity from seeds in the striatum revealed a striatal-cortical-sensorimotor network that was observed only in the early-onset group. In this network, higher connectivity correlated with greater motor timing expertise, which resulted from early/late group differences in motor timing expertise. By contrast, networks that differentiated musicians and nonmusicians, namely a striatal-occipital-frontal-cerebellar network in which connectivity was higher in musicians, tended to not show differences between early and late musicians and not be correlated with motor timing expertise. These results parcel musical sensorimotor neuroplasticity into a set of musicianship-related networks and a distinct set of predominantly early-onset networks. The findings lend support to the possibility that we can learn skills more easily early in development because during sensitive periods we recruit distinct brain networks that are no longer implicated in learning later in life.
语言、视觉和感觉运动学习的证据表明，早期训练更有效。本研究探讨了这样一种假设，即在敏感时期学习除了涉及到生命后期学习时涉及的大脑网络之外，还涉及到不同的大脑网络。研究测试了那些早期（<7 岁；n=21）或晚期（n=15）开始接受音乐训练的专业钢琴家，但他们的总练习时间是匹配的。使用音阶演奏任务评估运动定时专业知识。使用 fMRI 测量静息时的大脑活动，并与非音乐家对照组（n=17）进行比较。纹状体种子的功能连接揭示了一个纹状体-皮质-感觉运动网络，仅在早期发病组中观察到。在这个网络中，更高的连接性与更高的运动定时专业知识相关，这是由于运动定时专业知识在早期/晚期组之间的差异。相比之下，区分音乐家和非音乐家的网络，即纹状体-枕叶-额顶叶-小脑网络，其中连接性在音乐家中更高，往往在早期和晚期音乐家之间没有差异，并且与运动定时专业知识无关。这些结果将音乐感觉运动神经可塑性分为一组与音乐才能相关的网络和一组主要与早期发病相关的网络。这些发现支持了这样一种可能性，即我们可以在发展早期更容易地学习技能，因为在敏感时期，我们会招募到不再涉及生命后期学习的不同大脑网络。
