Auditory neuroplasticity in the adult musical brain

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Peter Schneider
• Co-Applicants: Privatdozentin Dr. Maria Blatow; Professor Dr. Christoph Stippich
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 212698473

Brains of professional musicians are different from those of non-musicians in terms of size andfunctionality of their auditory cortex. To which extent these differences represent the result of intense musical training or are attributable to an innate predisposition remains a matter of controversy in the field of neuroscience. Our study aims to evaluate auditory neuroplasticity in a combined crosssectional and longitudinal design. Highly talented musical students of the Basle University of Music will be monitored during a three year intensive university training program, where all study participants will follow the same educational schedule. A unique combination of novel methods is used to establish individual auditory profiles consisting of psychoacoustic, morphological and neurofunctional parameters. Changes and temporal dynamics of these profiles will be assessed at four time points enabling discrimination of variables that are potentially susceptible to training-induced plasticity. The proposed work is expected to provide insight into the interactions between dispositional and traininginduced factors of auditory learning and behavior, and in the broader perspective to make a valuable contribution to the nature versus nurture debate. Results may have direct implications for aspects of musical education, e. g. adaptation of learning and career strategies, and the potential to be extended to other domains of adult neuroplasticity.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland