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Cognitive factors shape brain networks for auditory skills: spotlight on auditory working memory

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Musicians benefit from real-life advantages, such as a greater ability to hear speech in noise and to remember sounds, although the biological mechanisms driving such advantages remain undetermined. Furthermore, the extent to which these advantages are a consequence of musical training or innate characteristics that predispose a given individual to pursue music training is often debated. Here, we examine biological underpinnings of musicians' auditory advantages and the mediating role of auditory working memory. Results from our laboratory are presented within a framework that emphasizes auditory working memory as a major factor in the neural processing of sound. Within this framework, we provide evidence for music training as a contributing source of these abilities.

Source: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06463.x

Authors: Nina Kraus, Dana L. Strait, Alexandra Parbery‐Clark

Institution: Northwestern University

Language: English

Topic: Neuroscience and Music Perception

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Awards: G3728874187, Brainstem enhancement of stimulus regularities with auditory expertise