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Music as a driver for brain plasticity
Abstract and Figures
Making music is a powerful way of engaging multisensory and motor networks, inducing changes within these networks and linking together distant brain regions. These multimodal effects of music making together with music's ability to tap into the emotion and reward system in the brain can be used to facilitate therapy and rehabilitation of neurological disorders. In this article, we review short-and long-term effects of listening to music and making music on functional networks and structural components of the brain. The specific influence of music on the developing brain is emphasized and possible transfer effects on emotional and cognitive processes are discussed. Furthermore, we present data on the potential of music making to support and facilitate neurorehabilitation. We focus on interventions such as melodic intonation therapy and music-supported motor rehabilitation to showcase the effects of neurologic music therapies and discuss their underlying neural mechanisms.
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... Доказательством сильного влияния музыкального 749 «Неврология и нейрохирургия. Восточная Европа», 2017, том 7, № 4 опыта на нейропластичность мозга служат многочисленные нейрофизиологические исследования, проведенные с участием профессиональных музыкантов [2]. Изучение при помощи функциональной магнитнорезонансной томографии (functional magnetic resonance imaging -FMRI) особенностей функциональной интеграции различных структур головного мозга во время прослушивания музыки у музыкантов выявило автоматическую активацию множества нейронных сетей, в то время как у немузыкантов задействовались лишь участки мозга, ответственные за восприятие и обработку аудиоинформации [1]. ...
The aim of the study was to determine the possibilities of practical application of music therapy in
the comprehensive neurorehabilitation of children according to the analysis of scientifc publicatio
ns over the past fve years in journals indexed by Scopus, WоS, MedLine and PubMed. The analysis
showed that the main mechanisms of the influence of music on the nervous system due to the
ability to stimulate neuroplasticity of the brain and cholinergic activity of the autonomic nervous
system, to strengthen the blood flow of the brain, to ease stress and pathological adrenergic effects.
Music therapy is an effective and safe method of rehabilitation of children who have undergone
neurosurgical interventions. The wide use of the method in complex rehabilitation could increase
the efciency of the children’s neurosurgery departments
... Musical training has emerged as a useful framework for the investigation of training-related plasticity in the human brain (1). Playing an instrument simultaneously receives and transmits visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic information to a specialised brain network (2), engages emotion and reward systems in the brain, which may facilitate and enhance therapeutic approaches aimed towards rehabilitation from neurological and psychiatric disorder (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). ...
Objective:
We explored the effects of playing the piano on patients with cognitive impairment after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and, addressed the question if this approach would stimulate neural networks in re-routing neural connections and link up cortical circuits that had been functional inhibited due to disruption of brain tissue. Functional neuroimaging scans (fMRI) and neuropsychological tests were performed pre-post intervention.
Method:
Three groups participated, one mTBI group (n = 7), two groups of healthy participants, one with music training (n = 11), one baseline group without music (n = 12). The music groups participated in 8 weeks music-supported intervention.
Results:
The patient group revealed training-related neuroplasticity in the orbitofrontal cortex. fMRI results fit well with outcome from neuropsychological tests with significant enhancement of cognitive performance in the music groups. Ninety per cent of mTBI group returned to work post intervention.
Conclusion:
Here, for the first time, we demonstrated behavioural improvements and functional brain changes after 8 weeks of playing piano on patients with mTBI having attention, memory and social interaction problems. We present evidence for a causal relationship between musical training and reorganisation of neural networks promoting enhanced cognitive performance. These results add a novel music-supported intervention within rehabilitation of patients with cognitive deficits following mTBI.
Objetivo: Comparar o repertório de habilidades sociais e problemas de comportamento de crianças, antes e após o treinamento musical. Métodos: Este foi um estudo quasi-experimental com oitenta crianças (oito a 12 anos), divididas em dois grupos, experimental e controle. Os dados foram coletados usando o Sistema de Avaliação de Habilidades Sociais (SSRS-BR). Para análise estatística dos dados foi utilizado o teste ANOVA de medidas repetidas e o teste de Tukey. Resultados: indicaram uma diferença estatisticamente significativa em crianças expostas ao treinamento musical, mostrando melhoria significativa em seu repertório de habilidades sociais e problemas de comportamento em comparação com crianças que não foram expostas ao treinamento musical. Conclusão: o treinamento musical promoveu as habilidades sociais em crianças, em relação ao autocontrole, afetividade, cooperação, responsabilidade, desenvoltura social, civilidade e problemas de comportamento, em relação a comportamentos internalizantes e externalizantes.
Cognitive deficits are one of the most prevalent impairments in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Music therapy has the potential to be a valuable intervention for improving cognitive function. This review aimed to investigate the effects of music therapy on cognitive function in patients with TBI. Scopus, PubMed, REHABDATA, PEDro, EMBASE, and web of science were searched for experimental trials examining the impacts of music therapy on cognition in patients with TBI from inception until December 2022. Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. Five studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 122 patients with TBI were included in this review, 32% of whom were females. The PEDro scores ranged from four to seven, with a median of five. The findings showed that music therapy could be effective in improving executive function post-TBI, with limited evidence for the effects on memory and attention. Music therapy might be safe in patients with TBI. The evidence for the effect of music therapy on executive function in patients with TBI is promising. Further studies with larger sample sizes and long-term follow-ups are strongly needed.
In: Neurociência e Música: Pesquisa, Ensino e Saúde. Maria José Fernandes & Viviane Louro. São Paulo: Editora UNIFESP (no prelo).
Resumo: Algumas de nossas habilidades musicais são inatas, enquanto outras são adquiridas através da mera exposição a músicas da cultura na qual estamos inseridos. Há, no entanto, um conjunto de competências musicais que só se desenvolve por meio de treinamento. Tocar um instrumento (ou cantar) com fluência técnica e expressividade requer uma prática extensiva que, ao longo de anos, acaba por modelar forma e tamanho de nossas redes neurais. Por esse motivo, a performance musical tem sido considerada um ótimo modelo para estudar a plasticidade do cérebro humano. Neste capítulo serão apresentados estudos recentes na área da neurociência cognitiva da música que descrevem processos mentais e substratos neurais envolvidos na performance musical, tanto individual como em conjunto.
Abstract: Some of our musical skills are innate while others are acquired through the mere exposure to the music of our culture. A series of musical abilities, however, only develop through training. Playing an instrument (or singing) with technical fluency and expressiveness requires extensive practice, which over the years can modulate the shape and size of our neural networks. For this reason, musical performance has been considered a good model for studying the plasticity of the human brain. This chapter will present recent studies in the area of cognitive neuroscience of music that describe mental processes and neural substrates involved in solo and ensemble musical performances.
From an early age, musicians learn complex motor and auditory skills (e.g., the translation of visually perceived musical symbols into motor commands with simultaneous auditory monitoring of output), which they practice extensively from childhood throughout their entire careers. Using a voxel-by-voxel morphometric technique, we found gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory, and visual-spatial brain regions when comparing professional musicians (keyboard players) with a matched group of amateur musicians and non-musicians. Although some of these multiregional differences could be attributable to innate predisposition, we believe they may represent structural adaptations in response to long-term skill acquisition and the repetitive rehearsal of those skills. This hypothesis is supported by the strong association we found between structural differences, musician status, and practice intensity, as well as the wealth of supporting animal data showing structural changes in response to long-term motor training. However, only future experiments can determine the relative contribution of predisposition and practice.
Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sex- and intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experience-driven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higher-order cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.
Using in-vivo magnetic resonance morphometry it was investigated whether the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum (CC) would differ between 30 professional musicians and 30 age-, sex- and handedness-matched controls. Our analyses revealed that the anterior half of the CC was significantly larger in musicians. This difference was due to the larger anterior CC in the subgroup of musicians who had begun musical training before the age of 7. Since anatomic studies have provided evidence for a positive correlation between midsagittal callosal size and the number of fibers crossing through the CC, these data indicate a difference in interhemispheric communication and possibly in hemispheric (a)symmetry of sensorimotor areas. Our results are also compatible with plastic changes of components of the CC during a maturation period within the first decade of human life, similar to those observed in animal studies.
This chapter presents accessible and relevant information from research literature concerned with motor development, motor control, sensorimotor interaction, and motor coordination involved in musical performance and practice. It describes the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of motor systems in general and the neural basis of sensorimotor learning in the different stages of motor development. The brain mechanisms of skill acquisition and the effects of music making on brain networks as well as brain structure are explained. Furthermore, insights into the neurobiological correlates of training strategies such as mental practice demonstrate the relationship between mental (auditory) imagery and acoustic perception. Our chapter also discusses the expertise model of musical achievement in terms of the neurosciences and the neurohormonal reward mechanisms linked to the neurotransmitter dopamine. Based on these principles, a final section provides implications for teaching and learning musical instruments.
The brain as a highly dynamically organized structure can change and adapt as a result of activities and demands imposed by the environment. Musical activity has proven to be a powerful stimulus for this kind of brain adaptation, or brain plasticity. This chapter suggests that music-induced brain plasticity may produce benefits for wellbeing in general and may influence neurohormonal status as well as cognitive and emotional processes in healthy and diseased individuals, helping to improve various sensory, motor, coordinative, or emotional disabilities. It first reviews mechanisms of musicinduced brain plasticity. It then clarifies the impact of music on emotion and neurohormones. It demonstrates the transfer effects of music exposure and making music to other cognitive and emotional domains, and shows examples of the potential of music to serve as a supportive and facilitative therapy in rehabilitation from motor impairment and aphasia following brain injury.
The discovery of audiovisual mirror neurons in monkeys gave rise to the hypothesis that premotor areas are inherently involved not only when observing actions but also when listening to action-related sound. However, the whole-brain functional formation underlying such "action-listening" is not fully understood. In addition, previous studies in humans have focused mostly on relatively simple and overexperienced everyday actions, such as hand clapping or door knocking. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to ask whether the human action-recognition system responds to sounds found in a more complex sequence of newly acquired actions. To address this, we chose a piece of music as a model set of acoustically presentable actions and trained non-musicians to play it by ear. We then monitored brain activity in subjects while they listened to the newly acquired piece. Although subjects listened to the music without performing any movements, activation was found bilaterally in the frontoparietal motor-related network (including Broca's area, the premotor region, the intraparietal sulcus, and the inferior parietal region), consistent with neural circuits that have been associated with action observations, and may constitute the human mirror neuron system. Presentation of the practiced notes in a different order activated the network to a much lesser degree, whereas listening to an equally familiar but motorically unknown music did not activate this network. These findings support the hypothesis of a "hearing-doing" system that is highly dependent on the individual's motor repertoire, gets established rapidly, and consists of Broca's area as its hub.
Musicians with extensive training and playing experience provide an excellent model for studying plasticity of the human brain. The demands placed on the nervous system by music performance are very high and provide a uniquely rich multisensory and motor experience to the player. As confirmed by neuroimaging studies, playing music depends on a strong coupling of perception and action mediated by sensory, motor, and multimodal integration regions distributed throughout the brain. A pianist, for example, must draw on a whole set of complex skills, including translating visual analysis of musical notation into motor movements, coordinating multisensory information with bimanual motor activity, developing fine motor skills in both hands coupled with metric precision, and monitoring auditory feedback to fine-tune a performance as it progresses. This article summarizes research on the effects of musical training on brain function, brain connectivity and brain structure. First we address factors inducing and continuously driving brain plasticity in dedicated musicians, arguing that prolonged goal-directed practice, multi-sensory-motor integration, high arousal, and emotional and social rewards contribute to these plasticity-induced brain adaptations. Subsequently, we briefly review the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology underpinning musical activities. Here we focus on the perception of sound, integration of sound and movement, and the physiology of motor planning and motor control. We then review the literature on functional changes in brain activation and brain connectivity along with the acquisition of musical skills, be they auditory or sensory-motor. In the following section we focus on structural adaptions in the gray matter of the brain and in fiber-tract density associated with music learning. Here we critically discuss the findings that structural changes are mostly seen when starting musical training after age seven, whereas functional optimization is more effective before this age. We then address the phenomenon of de-expertise, reviewing studies which provide evidence that intensive music-making can induce dysfunctional changes which are accompanied by a degradation of skilled motor behavior, also termed “musician’s dystonia”. This condition, which is frequently highly disabling, mainly affects male classical musicians with a history of compulsive working behavior, anxiety disorder or chronic pain. Functional and structural brain changes in these musicians are suggestive of deficient inhibition and excess excitation in the central nervous system, which leads to co-activation of antagonistic pairs of muscles during performance, reducing movement speed and quality. We conclude with a concise summary of the role of brain plasticity, metaplasticity and maladaptive plasticity in the acquisition and loss of musicians’ expertise.
Brodmann has pioneered structural brain mapping. He considered functional and pathological criteria for defining cortical areas in addition to cytoarchitecture. Starting from this idea of structural-functional relationships at the level of cortical areas, we will argue that the cortical architecture is more heterogeneous than Brodmann's map suggests. A triple-scale concept is proposed that includes repetitive modular-like structures and micro- and meso-maps. Criteria for defining a cortical area will be discussed, considering novel preparations, imaging and optical methods, 2D and 3D quantitative architectonics, as well as high-performance computing including analyses of big data. These new approaches contribute to an understanding of the brain on multiple levels and challenge the traditional, mosaic-like segregation of the cerebral cortex.
Isolated focal dystonias are a group of disorders with diverse symptomatology but unknown pathophysiology. Although recent neuroimaging studies demonstrated regional changes in brain connectivity, it remains unclear whether focal dystonia may be considered a disorder of abnormal networks. We examined topology as well as the global and local features of large-scale functional brain networks across different forms of isolated focal dystonia, including patients with task-specific (TSD) and nontask-specific (NTSD) dystonias. Compared with healthy participants, all patients showed altered network architecture characterized by abnormal expansion or shrinkage of neural communities, such as breakdown of basal ganglia-cerebellar community, loss of a pivotal region of information transfer (hub) in the premotor cortex, and pronounced connectivity reduction within the sensorimotor and frontoparietal regions. TSD were further characterized by significant connectivity changes in the primary sensorimotor and inferior parietal cortices and abnormal hub formation in insula and superior temporal cortex, whereas NTSD exhibited abnormal strength and number of regional connections. We suggest that isolated focal dystonias likely represent a disorder of large-scale functional networks, where abnormal regional interactions contribute to network-wide functional alterations and may underline the pathophysiology of isolated focal dystonia. Distinct symptomatology in TSD and NTSD may be linked to disorder-specific network aberrations.