Physiology, anatomy, and plasticity of the cerebral cortex in relation to musical instrument performance

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 115; no. 5_Supplement; p. 2590
• Main Author: Tramo, Mark Jude
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-05-2004
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.4784410

The acquisition and maintenance of fine-motor skills underlying musical instrument performance rely on the development, integration, and plasticity of neural systems localized within specific subregions of the cerebral cortex. Cortical representations of a motor sequence, such as a sequence of finger movements along the keys of a saxophone, take shape before the figure sequence occurs. The temporal pattern and spatial coordinates are computed by networks of neurons before and during the movements. When a finger sequence is practiced over and over, performance gets faster and more accurate, probably because cortical neurons generating the sequence increase in spatial extent, their electrical discharges become more synchronous, or both. By combining experimental methods such as single- and multi-neuron recordings, focal stimulation, microanatomical tracers, gross morphometry, evoked potentials, and functional imaging in humans and nonhuman primates, neuroscientists are gaining insights into the cortical physiology, anatomy, and plasticity of musical instrument performance.