Musicians are better at using sounds as spatial body anchors

Abstract

Musicians are known to possess superior multisensory integration abilities but the extent to which these enhanced abilities extend beyond the context of music remains unclear. A recent study suggests that musicians might be making better use of environmental sounds in representing their bodies in space. If this is indeed the case, the enhanced use of sound sources for body representation could arguably allow for better control of posture. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the impact of sound stimuli on postural control in musicians versus non-musicians. Participants were asked to perform a challenging postural task in the presence, and absence of auditory input. No differences in sway parameters were observed between groups in the absence of auditory input. As expected, the addition of auditory cues significantly enhanced postural control performance in both groups. However, this enhanced performance in the presence of sound was significantly more pronounced in musicians as compared to non-musicians. This effect was associated with decreased activity in frequency bands known to be linked to anticipatory mechanisms, vestibular inflow and feedback-corrective mechanisms. These results support the idea that musicianship enhances postural control through the integration of auditory spatial anchors. Even more importantly, these results suggest that the positive impact of musical training extends far beyond the context of music, even going so far as to positively influence spatial abilities.

Keywords: Auditory anchorage; Auditory spatial abilities; Binaural cues; Multisensory integration; Musical expertise; Musician; Postural control; Spatial cognition; Training-induced plasticity.