Becoming a pianist. An fMRI study of musical literacy acquisition

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003 Nov:999:204-8. doi: 10.1196/annals.1284.030.

Abstract

Musically naïve subjects were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after they had been taught to read music and play keyboard. When subjects played melodies from musical notation after training, activation was seen in a cluster of voxels within the right superior parietal cortex consistent with the view that music reading involves spatial sensorimotor mapping.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Brain Mapping
  • Humans
  • Learning / physiology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Music*
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Reading