Short-term plasticity following motor sequence learning revealed by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging

Current noninvasive methods to detect structural plasticity in humans are mainly used to study long-term changes. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was recently proposed as a novel approach to reveal gray matter changes following spatial navigation learning and object-location memory tasks. In the present work, we used diffusion MRI to investigate the short-term neuroplasticity that accompanies motor sequence learning. Following a 45-min training session in which participants learned to accurately play a short sequence on a piano keyboard, changes in diffusion properties were revealed mainly in motor system regions such as the premotor cortex and cerebellum. In a second learning session taking place immediately afterward, feedback was given on the timing of key pressing instead of accuracy, while participants continued to learn. This second session induced a different plasticity pattern, demonstrating the dynamic nature of learning-induced plasticity, formerly thought to require months of training in order to be detectable. These results provide us with an important reminder that the brain is an extremely dynamic structure. Furthermore, diffusion MRI offers a novel measure to follow tissue plasticity particularly over short timescales, allowing new insights into the dynamics of structural brain plasticity.

Motor imagery as a method of maintaining performance in pianists during forced non-practice: a single case study

Background: Musicians suffer from upper limb playing-related musculoskeletal disorders that often oblige them to periodic inactivity. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of motor imagery as a means of practice when the physical piano practice is restricted. Methods: A 17-year-old healthy pianist participated in a single subject case study with a multiple baseline design (ABC design). Performance ability was assessed during a period of the no practice, then a period of performing motor imagery and again during a period of another no practice. Assessments were performed subjectively by a professional piano teacher and objectively by the Synthesia software. Three visual analog scales were used to record stress, fatigue, and general psychological state. The participant's motor imagery ability was recorded by the use of the Movement Imagery Questionnaire. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in performance after no practice. There was no change in performance during motor imagery intervention. The pianist's scores moderately correlated with the general psychological state. The Synthesia scoring presented high correlations with professional piano teacher scoring. Conclusions: Motor imagery seemed to have a positive effect in maintaining the musician's performance level. Synthesia shows promise as an outcome measure for assessing music performance, although further research is needed.

Musculus Palmaris Longus: Influence on Playing Capability of Keyboard Musicians - Preliminary Report

Musculus Palmaris Longus (PL) is one of the most variable anatomical structures in the human body. Despite being biomechanically active, it is vastly considered to have no impact on the functionality of the upper extremity in the general population. The aim of this study is to examine the relation between playing capability of young musicians and morphology of Musculus PL and to compare it with the relation between manual capability of non-musicians and morphology of their Musculus PL. 42 forearms of 21 healthy individuals (11 musicians and 10 non-musicians) were subjected to Shaeffer's test and ultrasound imaging and tested by dynamometer for hand grip strength and the first and fifth finger opposition before and after exertion. No difference in morphology pattern was observed between the groups. In the musicians, a substantial loss of a hand grip strength of the left hand compared to the right hand after exertion, regardless of lateralization, was observed. A disproportion in exhaustion of the musician's hands with unilateral absence of PL was observed - the difference in grip strength between the dominant and non-dominant hand before and after exertion increased over eight times more than in the musicians with bilateral presence. There is no difference in PL morphology between either the musicians or non-musicians. Regardless of lateralization, the musician's left hand in musicians seems weaker and therefore more prone to misuse related injuries. PL may play a role in musicians in balancing muscular exhaustion.

Piano training enhances the neural processing of pitch and improves speech perception in Mandarin-speaking children

Musical training confers advantages in speech-sound processing, which could play an important role in early childhood education. To understand the mechanisms of this effect, we used event-related potential and behavioral measures in a longitudinal design. Seventy-four Mandarin-speaking children aged 4-5 y old were pseudorandomly assigned to piano training, reading training, or a no-contact control group. Six months of piano training improved behavioral auditory word discrimination in general as well as word discrimination based on vowels compared with the controls. The reading group yielded similar trends. However, the piano group demonstrated unique advantages over the reading and control groups in consonant-based word discrimination and in enhanced positive mismatch responses (pMMRs) to lexical tone and musical pitch changes. The improved word discrimination based on consonants correlated with the enhancements in musical pitch pMMRs among the children in the piano group. In contrast, all three groups improved equally on general cognitive measures, including tests of IQ, working memory, and attention. The results suggest strengthened common sound processing across domains as an important mechanism underlying the benefits of musical training on language processing. In addition, although we failed to find far-transfer effects of musical training to general cognition, the near-transfer effects to speech perception establish the potential for musical training to help children improve their language skills. Piano training was not inferior to reading training on direct tests of language function, and it even seemed superior to reading training in enhancing consonant discrimination.

Effects of variability of practice in music: a pilot study on fast goal-directed movements in pianists

Variability of Practice (VOP) refers to the acquisition of a particular target movement by practicing a range of varying targets rather than by focusing on fixed repetitions of the target only. VOP has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects on transfer to a novel task and on skill consolidation. This study extends the line of research to musical practice. In a task resembling a barrier-knockdown paradigm, 36 music students trained to perform a wide left-hand interval leap on the piano. Performance at the target distance was tested before and after a 30-min standardized training session. The high-variability group (VAR) practiced four different intervals including the target. Another group (FIX) practiced the target interval only. A third group (SPA) performed spaced practice on the target only, interweaving with periods of not playing. Transfer was tested by introducing an interval novel to either group. After a 24-h period with no further exposure to the instrument, performance was retested. All groups performed at comparable error levels before training, after training, and after the retention (RET) interval. At transfer, however, the FIX group, unlike the other groups, committed significantly more errors than in the target task. After the RET period, the effect was washed out for the FIX group but then was present for VAR. Thus, the results provide only partial support for the VOP hypothesis for the given setting. Additional exploratory observations suggest tentative benefits of VOP regarding execution speed, loudness, and performance confidence. We derive specific hypotheses and specific recommendations regarding sample selection and intervention duration for future investigations. Furthermore, the proposed leap task measurement is shown to be (a) robust enough to serve as a standard framework for studies in the music domain, yet (b) versatile enough to allow for a wide range of designs not previously investigated for music on a standardized basis.

Complex hand dexterity: a review of biomechanical methods for measuring musical performance

Complex hand dexterity is fundamental to our interactions with the physical, social, and cultural environment. Dexterity can be an expression of creativity and precision in a range of activities, including musical performance. Little is understood about complex hand dexterity or how virtuoso expertise is acquired, due to the versatility of movement combinations available to complete any given task. This has historically limited progress of the field because of difficulties in measuring movements of the hand. Recent developments in methods of motion capture and analysis mean it is now possible to explore the intricate movements of the hand and fingers. These methods allow us insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning complex hand dexterity and motor learning. They also allow investigation into the key factors that contribute to injury, recovery and functional compensation. The application of such analytical techniques within musical performance provides a multidisciplinary framework for purposeful investigation into the process of learning and skill acquisition in instrumental performance. These highly skilled manual and cognitive tasks present the ultimate achievement in complex hand dexterity. This paper will review methods of assessing instrumental performance in music, focusing specifically on biomechanical measurement and the associated technical challenges faced when measuring highly dexterous activities.

Investigating pianists' individuality in the performance of five timbral nuances through patterns of articulation, touch, dynamics, and pedaling

Timbre is an essential expressive feature in piano performance. Concert pianists use a vast palette of timbral nuances to color their performances at the microstructural level. Although timbre is generally envisioned in the pianistic community as an abstract concept carried through an imaged vocabulary, performers may share some common strategies of timbral expression in piano performance. Yet there may remain further leeway for idiosyncratic processes in the production of piano timbre nuances. In this study, we examined the patterns of timbral expression in performances by four expert pianists. Each pianist performed four short pieces, each with five different timbral intentions (bright, dark, dry, round, and velvety). The performances were recorded with the high-accuracy Bösendorfer CEUS system. Fine-grained performance features of dynamics, touch, articulation and pedaling were extracted. Reduced PCA performance spaces and descriptive performance portraits confirmed that pianists exhibited unique, specific profiles for different timbral intentions, derived from underlying traits of general individuality, while sharing some broad commonalities of dynamics and articulation for each timbral intention. These results confirm that pianists' abstract notions of timbre correspond to reliable patterns of performance technique. Furthermore, these effects suggest that pianists can express individual styles while complying with specific timbral intentions.

Effects of music learning and piano practice on cognitive function, mood and quality of life in older adults

Reading music and playing a musical instrument is a complex activity that comprises motor and multisensory (auditory, visual, and somatosensory) integration in a unique way. Music has also a well-known impact on the emotional state, while it can be a motivating activity. For those reasons, musical training has become a useful framework to study brain plasticity. Our aim was to study the specific effects of musical training vs. the effects of other leisure activities in elderly people. With that purpose we evaluated the impact of piano training on cognitive function, mood and quality of life (QOL) in older adults. A group of participants that received piano lessons and did daily training for 4-month (n = 13) was compared to an age-matched control group (n = 16) that participated in other types of leisure activities (physical exercise, computer lessons, painting lessons, among other). An exhaustive assessment that included neuropsychological tests as well as mood and QOL questionnaires was carried out before starting the piano program and immediately after finishing (4 months later) in the two groups. We found a significant improvement on the piano training group on the Stroop test that measures executive function, inhibitory control and divided attention. Furthermore, a trend indicating an enhancement of visual scanning and motor ability was also found (Trial Making Test part A). Finally, in our study piano lessons decreased depression, induced positive mood states, and improved the psychological and physical QOL of the elderly. Our results suggest that playing piano and learning to read music can be a useful intervention in older adults to promote cognitive reserve (CR) and improve subjective well-being.

Development of ERN together with an internal model of audio-motor associations

The brain's reactions to error are manifested in several event related potentials (ERP) components, derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. Although these components have been known for decades, their interpretation is still controversial. A current hypothesis (first indicator hypothesis) claims that the first indication of an action being erroneous leads to a negative deflection of the EEG signal over frontal midline areas. In some cases this requires sensory feedback in the form of knowledge of results (KR). If KR is given, then the first negative deflection can be found around 250 ms after feedback presentation (feedback-related negativity, FRN). When KR is not required, a negative deflection is found already around 100 ms after action onset (ERN). This deflection may be evoked when a mismatch between required and actually executed actions is detected. To detect such a mismatch, however, necessitates knowledge about which action is required. To test this assumption, the current study monitored EEG error components during acquisition of an internal model, i.e., acquisition of the knowledge of which actions are needed to reach certain goals. Actions consisted of finger presses on a piano keyboard and goals were tones of a certain pitch to be generated, thus the internal model represented audio-motor mapping. Results show that with increasing proficiency in mapping goals to appropriate actions, the amplitude of the ERN increased, whereas the amplitude of the FRN remained unchanged. Thus, when knowledge is present about which action is required, this supports generation of an ERN around 100 ms, likely by detecting a mismatch between required and performed actions. This is in accordance with the first indicator hypothesis. The present study furthermore lends support to the notion that FRN mainly relies on comparison of sensory targets with sensory feedback.

The influence of chronotype on making music: circadian fluctuations in pianists' fine motor skills

Making music on a professional level requires a maximum of sensorimotor precision. Chronotype-dependent fluctuations of sensorimotor precision in the course of the day may prove a challenge for musicians because public performances or recordings are usually scheduled at fixed times of the day. We investigated pianists' sensorimotor timing precision in a scale playing task performed in the morning and in the evening. Participants' chronotype was established through the Munich Chrono-Type Questionnaire, where mid-sleep time served as a marker for the individual chronotypes. Twenty-one piano students were included in the study. Timing precision was decomposed into consistent within-trial variability (irregularity) and residual, between-trial variability (instability). The timing patterns of late chronotype pianists were more stable in the evening than in the morning, whereas early chronotype pianists did not show a difference between the two recording timepoints. In sum, the present results indicate that even highly complex sensorimotor tasks such as music playing are affected by interactions between chronotype and the time of day. Thus, even long-term, massed practice of these expert musicians has not been able to wash out circadian fluctuations in performance.

Enriched childhood experiences moderate age-related motor and cognitive decline

Aging is associated with deterioration of skilled manual movement. Specifically, aging corresponds with increased reaction time, greater movement duration, segmentation of movement, increased movement variability, and reduced ability to adapt to external forces and inhibit previously learned sequences. Moreover, it is thought that decreased lateralization of neural function in older adults may point to increased neural recruitment as a compensatory response to deterioration of key frontal and intra-hemispheric networks, particularly of callosal structures. However, factors that mediate age-related motor decline are not well understood. Here we show that music training in childhood is associated with reduced age-related decline of bimanual and unimanual motor skills in a MIDI keyboard motor learning task. Compared to older adults without music training, older adults with more than a year of music training demonstrated proficient bimanual and unimanual movement, evidenced by enhanced speed and decreased movement errors. Further, this group demonstrated significantly better implicit learning in the weather prediction task, a non-motor task. The performance of older adults with music training in those tasks was comparable to young adults. Older adults, however, displayed greater verbal ability compared to young adults irrespective of a past history of music training. Our results indicate that music training early in life may reduce age-associated decline of neural motor and cognitive networks.