Dear Colleagues,

The MTA-LFZE Research Group on Active Music Learning cordially invites you to the following talk:

Katie Overy (IMHSD, Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh)

Date: June 23rd 2017, Friday, 11.00-12.00

Location: Hungarian Academy of Sciences Research Centre for Natural Sciences Brain Imaging Centre, Magyar tudósok körútja 2., 3rd floor, conference room 2 (D3.09C)

Short-Term, Music-Cued Motor Training Leads to Neuroplasticity in The Arcuate Fasciculus: a DT-MRI Study

The arcuate fasciculus, a white matter tract linking auditory and motor regions of the brain, has been found to show increased connectivity in highly trained musicians, but it is not known whether such differences are specifically caused by musical training. We hypothesized that learning a musical, auditory-motor task with the left hand would lead to microstructural neuroplasticity in the contralateral, right arcuate fasciculus. Thirty right-handed participants were assigned to a motor learning condition either with (Music Group) or without (Control Group) musical cues. Participants completed 20 minutes of motor training three times per week over four weeks, resulting in a total of four hours of training. Using diffusion tensor MRI and probabilistic neighbourhood tractography, we identified mean Fractional Anisotropy (FA), axial (AD) and radial (RD) diffusivity values in the left and right arcuate fasciculi for each participant, before and after the four-week training period. Results revealed that FA increased significantly in the right, contralateral arcuate fasciculus of the Music group only, as hypothesised, with trends for AD to increase and RD to decrease. No significant changes were found in the left, ipsilateral arcuate fasciculus of either group, as predicted. This is a pattern of results consistent with activity-dependent increases in myelination and, to our knowledge, is the first evidence that adding musical cues to movement learning can induce rapid microstructural change in white matter pathways in the adult brain (Moore et al 2017).

Moore E, Schaefer R, Bastin M, Roberts N & Overy K. (2017). Brain and Cognition, 116, 40-46.

Everyone is welcome to attend. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Kind regards,

Borbála Lukács

MTA-LFZE Research Group on Active Music Learning

E-mail: lukacs.borbala@ttk.mta.hu