Timbre-specific enhancement of auditory cortical representations in musicians

Neural imaging studies have shown that the brains of skilled musicians resp ond differently to musical stimuli than do the brains of non-musicians, par ticularly for musicians who commenced practice at an early age. Whether bra in attributes related to musical skill are attributable to musical practice or are hereditary traits that influence the decision to train musically is a subject of controversy, owing to its pedagogic implications. Here we rep ort that auditory cortical representations measured neuromagnetically for t ones of different timbre (violin and trumpet) are enhanced compared to sine tones in violinists and trumpeters, preferentially for timbres of the inst rument of training. Timbre specificity is predicted by a principle of use-d ependent plasticity and imposes new requirements on nativistic accounts of brain attributes associated with musical skill. NeuroReport 12:169-174 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.