Neuroimaging of Professional and Amateur Musicians: Neural Mechanisms of Musical Automatisation

M. LOTZE
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology and Department of Neurology, University of Tuebingen

G. SCHELER
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology and Department of Neurology, University of Tuebingen, Philharmonic Orchestra of Nuernberg

N. BIRBAUMER
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology and Department of Neurology, University of Tuebingen Department of General Psychology, University of Padua

To investigate the neuronal basis for excellence of musical performance we compared differences in fMRI- activation maps of professional and amateur musicians during left hand execution and imagined execution of a solo part of Mozarts violin concerto in G-Major. Professional musicians exhibited a more focused sensorimotor activation in the contralateral cortex during the execution task. The improved economy of motor activation may liberate additional capacities for music specific activation sites in professionals: 1) the right primary auditory cortex, which permits continuous internal auditory monitoring of the musical sequence 2) a fronto-parietal network consisting of the inferior left parietal and the medial prefrontal lobe which may point to an increased retrieval of motor programs adjusted to the incoming sensory feedback. Imagery training was performed prior to the fMRI-measurement and subjects had to achieve high vividness of imagery without actual execution of the target muscles as measured by EMG. Professionals, using imagery in their musical training more extensively, showed no significant different activation sites during imagery than during actual execution. Increased vividness of imagery of movement in the professional group was mirrored in increased activation in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex compared to amateurs. In the amateurs the same inferior left parietal and bilateral prefrontal activation, as during actual execution in professionals, was increased during the imagination in comparison to the execution task. In this fronto-parietal network the plan of the musical piece and the motor sequences may be stored which was only accessible in amateurs during imagery but not during the actual execution when resources were engaged to insufficient performance.

Address for correspondence: MARTIN LOTZE E-mail: Martin.Lotze@barmh-brueder-regensburg.de