how the human brain adapts to piano playing-france

7/29/2019 How the Human Brain Adapts to Piano Playing-france

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Are musicians more intelligent?How the human brain adapts to piano playing.

Pr Timo Krings

Department of Neuroradiology

University Hospital of the Technical University Aachen, Allemagne

Service de Neuroradiologie diagnostique et thrapeutique,CHU de Bictre, Le Kremlin-Bictre; France (Prof. Lasjaunias)

[email protected]

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF ARTS EDUCATIONCentre Pompidou, Paris


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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)


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Basic principle of MRI

Each tissue hasspecific magnetic

properties

Different grey scalevalues


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Hand movements

localized brain activityincreased oxygen consumption

Changes in local brain blood flowChanges in the local magnetic field

Basic principle of functional MRI


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Conventional MRI(Gray scale)

Changes in

Bloodflow due tobrain activity

(colour)

Basic principle of functional MRI


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Imaging the brain at work1. Speech

Fra...

Word generation


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Mental Rotation

Imaging the brain at work1. Visual orientation


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Listening to Bach

Listening to Bartok

Imaging the brain at work3. Music


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Imaging the brain at work4. The motor system

The human cortical motor systemconsists of a distributed network of areas that are involved in differentaspects of executing specific motortasks.


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The primary motor area M1:

- Executive area of motor function- Neurons are directly connected via

the spinal cord with the muscles- Lesions lead to long lasting paralysis


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The supplementary motor area SMA:

- crucial for temporal structuring andselection of movements

- Initiation of movements- Neurons are connected to M1- Lesions lead to initiation disorders


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The premotor area PMA:

- associated with planning,programming, initiation, guidance, andexecution of movements

- Neurons are connected to SMA and M1- Lesions lead to initiation disorders


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The superior parietal lobule SPL:

- important for linking sensation andaction, and for contributing to spatialrepresentation and early motor

transformations underlying action- Neurons are connected to SMA and M1- Lesions lead to Ataxia and Neglect


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Motor performance can be describedby the interaction of different brainregions as parts of a distributed,connected, overlapping, and highlyparallel or reciprocal processingnetwork, the modular parts of which

may substitute each other


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Which brain areas are more active duringcomplex movements?

Difficult minus easy hand motor tasks

The human motor system canremodel its excitatory outputaccording to functional demandsof a given task


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Aim

The study was performed to evaluate which changes

appear in musicians compared to non-musicians when

performing complex motor tasks and, therefore, to

elucidate the effects on the brain of playing aninstrument.


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Methods

Both pianists and non-musicians had to perform simple

and complex movement sequences on a keyboard with

the right hand only, the tasks requiring different levels of

ordinal complexity while being studied with functionalMRI.


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Methods

EASY


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Methods

COMPLEX


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SimpleTask

Which brain areas are more active inNonMusicians compared to Musicians ?

Non-Musician Musician


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ComplexTask




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Complex Task

Simple Task




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Group of controls minus group of piano players

For the same performancemore brain areas have to beactivated in non-musicians Piano players use theirmotor network moreefficiently (i.e. less

activated brain for the sameperformance)


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Methods

BARTOK: Triolak (Microcosmos)


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Simple Task

What happens if the Musician playsBartok ?


Complex Task

Musician playing Bartok


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SimpleTask

What happens if the Musician plays

Bartok ?


ComplexTask

PlayingBartok

For a piano player,complexity startsat a higher levelcompared to the non-musician


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What happens during IMAGINATION to

play the piano?PLAYING

IMAGINATION of PLAYING


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What happens during IMAGINATION to

play the piano?During imagination of playing the piano, only secondary motor areas but notthe executive motor areas (i.e. the primary motor cortex) are active

indicating that these secondary motor areas are not needed for pure motorexecution of the task but instead for the sequencing, planning and structuringof the information being processed.

PLAYING IMAGINATION of PLAYING


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Conclusions

For the same level of performance, pianists need to activate less brainareas compared to non-musicians indicating that the functionality andthe connectivity of the brain works better in musicians

The stability and fluency in the coordination and execution of complexmovements allows the musician to shift attention from the mechanical

action to the artistic performance.

Mental imagery of movements activates the same cortical networks thatare also active during the performance of playing an instrument therebyproving the usefulness of imagination to rehearse ones musical skills

The ability to play a musical instrument leads to a more efficientrepresentation of actions in the brain, and, therefore, to a bettercognitive performance.


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Thank you !

how the human brain adapts to piano playing-france

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