Brain Imaging Centre, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 12;14(1):21313. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71458-4.
Extensive research with musicians has shown that instrumental musical training can have a profound impact on how acoustic features are processed in the brain. However, less is known about the influence of singing training on neural activity during voice perception, particularly in response to salient acoustic features, such as the vocal vibrato in operatic singing. To address this gap, the present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain responses in trained opera singers and musically untrained controls listening to recordings of opera singers performing in two distinct styles: a full operatic voice with vibrato, and a straight voice without vibrato. Results indicated that for opera singers, perception of operatic voice led to differential fMRI activations in bilateral auditory cortical regions and the default mode network. In contrast, musically untrained controls exhibited differences only in bilateral auditory cortex. These results suggest that operatic singing training triggers experience-dependent neural changes in the brain that activate self-referential networks, possibly through embodiment of acoustic features associated with one's own singing style.
大量针对音乐家的研究表明，乐器训练对大脑处理声学特征的方式有着深远的影响。然而，人们对于歌唱训练对声音感知过程中神经活动的影响知之甚少，特别是在对突出的声学特征（如歌剧演唱中的人声颤音）的反应方面。为了弥补这一空白，本研究采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）技术，测量了受过训练的歌剧演唱者和未经音乐训练的对照组在聆听歌剧演唱者以两种不同风格演唱时的大脑反应：一种是带有颤音的完整歌剧式嗓音，另一种是没有颤音的直线式嗓音。结果表明，对于歌剧演唱者来说，感知歌剧式嗓音会导致双侧听觉皮质区域和默认模式网络的 fMRI 活动出现差异。相比之下，未经音乐训练的对照组仅在双侧听觉皮质区域表现出差异。这些结果表明，歌剧演唱训练会引发大脑中与经验相关的神经变化，激活自我参照网络，这可能是通过对与自身演唱风格相关的声学特征的体现来实现的。
