Completed Research Project

Title / Titel
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Short-term and long-term plasticity in the human auditory system
Summary / Zusammenfassung
Summary
Background: The human auditory system is crucial for human communication. It is therefore essential to develop a sound knowledge of its function and anatomy. The human auditory system is a highly specialised system, exhibiting a wide range of functional plasticity and the potential to acquire different phonetic systems. A direct comparison of data acquired from the auditory system of animals with the human auditory system is often unsatisfactory. There is therefore a great need to exploit fMRI with its superior spatial resolution for the in vivo study of the human auditory system.
Working hypothesis: We hypothesize that the human auditory cortex is highly plastic and capable of adapting to long-term external auditory stimulation. This external stimulation is thought to modify the functional and structural neuroanatomy of the auditory cortex. We further hypothesize that short-term influences can alter the functional neuroanatomy of the auditory system.
Specific aims: In this project we plan to investigate the activation (indexed by hemodynamic responses) of the auditory cortex and adjacent cortical regions during auditory stimulation applying modern fMRI techniques with a 3 Tesla Philips-MRI scanner. In particular we are interested to study long-term plasticity and short-term plasticity of the auditory system. We are also interested in looking for macrostructural differences of the auditory system of professional musicians compared to non-musicians.
Specific aims and experimental designs: In part I of this project we will examine long-term plasticity processes using professional musicians with a long and extensive history of musical practise. Professional musicians are an ideal model for functional plasticity because professional musicians are an ideal model for functional plasticity. In these experiments (experiments 1-6) we will delineate those cortical areas which are specifically organised (i) to process instrument specific timbre information, (ii) to allow absolute pitch ability, (iii) to process musical pieces on an expert basis, and (iv) to uncover normal and experience-shaped tonotopic maps in the auditory cortex. In part II of this project we will examine short-term plasticity processes. In these experiments (experiments 7-9) we will use different training designs to evoke short-term plastic changes in the auditory system. The first design comprises a specifically constructed auditory discrimination task allowing us to measure changed hemodynamic responses in the auditory cortex after successful and non-successful discrimination training. The second design uses classical association training in order to study whether it is possible to establish an association between visual and auditory stimuli finally resulting in hemodynamic responses in the auditory cortex without explicitly presenting auditory stimuli.
For some of these experiments (those which are designed to study tonotopic organization) it will be necessary to develop a new FLASH-SENSE scanning algorithm allowing us to silently acquire T2* functional data sets. In addition, we will also conduct detailed morphometric analysis of the primary and secondary auditory cortex in the brains of professional musicians applying standard in-vivo morphometry techniques but also modern voxel-based and deformation-based morphometry. The purpose of these morphometric studies is to delineate anatomical peculiarities of the auditory cortex of musicians which may be due to long-term auditory practise.
Expected value of the proposed project: This project will be important for the understanding of the functional plasticity of the human auditory system. Finally, it will also extend our knowledge by using auditory stimulation protocols within the scanner.
Weitere Informationen
Publications / Publikationen
Jäncke, L. (2002). The case of a left-handed pianist playing a reversed keyboard: A challenge for the neuroscience of music. Neuroreport, 13, 1579-1583 (invited in focus article).

Münte, T.F., Altenmüller, E., Jäncke, L. (2002). The musician’s brain as a model for neuroplasticity. Nature Neuroscience Reviews, 3, 473-478.

Jäncke, L. (2002). What is special about the brain of musicians. NeuroReport, 13, 741-742. (invited in focus article).

Jäncke,L., Wüstenberg,T., Scheich,H., & Heinze,H.J. (2002). Phonetic perception and the temporal lobe. Neuroimage, 15, 733-746

Jäncke,L., Gaab,N., Wüstenberg,T., Scheich,H., & Heinze,H.J. (2001). Short-term functional plasticity in the human auditory cortex: an fMRI study. Cognitive Brain Research, 12(3), 479-485.

Jäncke,L. (2001). Was ist so Besonderes an den Gehirnen von professionellen Musikern? Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie, 10, 107-114.

Jäncke,L., Shah,N.J., & Peters,M. (2000). Cortical activations in primary and secondary motor areas for complex bimanual movements in professional pianists. Cognitive Brain Research, 10(1-2), 177-183.

Amunts,K., Schlaug,G., Jäncke,L., Steinmetz,H., Schleicher,A., & Zilles,K. (1997). Hand skills covary with the size of motor cortex: a macrostructural adaptation. Human Brain Mapping, 5, 206-215

Jäncke,L., Schlaug,G., & Steinmetz,H. (1997). Hand skill asymmetry in professional musicians. Brain and Cognition, 34(3), 424-432.

Schlaug,G., Jäncke,L., Huang,Y., & Steinmetz,H. (1995). In vivo evidence of structural brain asymmetry in musicians [see comments]. Science, 267(5198), 699-701.

Schlaug,G., Jäncke,L., Huang,Y., Staiger,J.F., & Steinmetz,H. (1995). Increased corpus callosum size in musicians. Neuropsychologia, 33(8), 1047-1055.

Keywords / Suchbegriffe
plasticity, auditory system, fMRI, musicians
Project Leadership and Contacts /
Projektleitung und Kontakte
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lutz Jäncke (Project Leader)l.jaencke@psychologie.uzh.ch
Funding Source(s) /
Unterstützt durch
SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung)
 
Duration of Project / Projektdauer
Apr 2003 to Mar 2008

© Universität Zürich, 1. April 2008, Impressum