RSSA Conference: RSSA Conference: Deeper Sulci, Thicker Gyri, Dose Music Tune Brain Motor Regions?

The human brain has an exceptional capacity to reorganize neural pathways and alter cortical patterns in response to environmental context. Early intensive musical training has a significant impact on brain development. Beginning at a young age, musicians integrate multiple functions (e.g., auditory, motor, visual, and cognitive tasks) comprehensively during a musical performance, requiring the activation of multiple brain regions. In this study, I investigated the effect of musicianship on cortical thickness and sulcal depth in 15 musicians and 15 age-matched non-musicians. Image analysis was conducted using surface-based morphometry (SBM). The results indicate that musicians have increased cortical volume in multiple brain regions, including the motor and visual regions. These regions are part of the visual-motor coupling network, indicating that long-term practice may lead to GM adaptation in visual-motor-related regions, thereby enhancing spatial attention and senso-motor transformation.