Short‐term plasticity following motor sequence learning revealed by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging

Current noninvasive methods to detect structural plasticity in humans are mainly used to study long‐term changes. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was recently proposed as a novel approach to reveal gray matter changes following spatial navigation learning and object‐location memory tasks. In the present work, we used diffusion MRI to investigate the short‐term neuroplasticity that accompanies motor sequence learning. Following a 45‐min training session in which participants learned to accurately play a short sequence on a piano keyboard, changes in diffusion properties were revealed mainly in motor system regions such as the premotor cortex and cerebellum. In a second learning session taking place immediately afterward, feedback was given on the timing of key pressing instead of accuracy, while participants continued to learn. This second session induced a different plasticity pattern, demonstrating the dynamic nature of learning‐induced plasticity, formerly thought to require months of training in order to be detectable. These results provide us with an important reminder that the brain is an extremely dynamic structure. Furthermore, diffusion MRI offers a novel measure to follow tissue plasticity particularly over short timescales, allowing new insights into the dynamics of structural brain plasticity.     

Evolution of one-handed piano compositions

Electronic searches were performed to investigate the evolution of one-handed piano compositions and one-handed music techniques, and to identify individuals responsible for the development of music meant for playing with one hand. Particularly, composers such as Liszt, Ravel, Scriabin, and Prokofiev established a new model in music by writing works to meet the demands of a variety of pianist-amputees that included Count Géza Zichy (1849-1924), Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), and Siegfried Rapp (b. 1915). Zichy was the first to amplify the scope of the repertoire to improve the variety of one-handed music; Wittgenstein developed and adapted specific and novel performance techniques to accommodate one-handedness; and Rapp sought to promote the stature of one-handed pianists among a musically sophisticated public able to appreciate the nuances of such maestros.     

Hand span and digital motion on the keyboard: concerns of overuse syndrome in musicians

PURPOSE: To investigate the hand motion of pianists when they performed an octave and a chord, which accounted for 74% of the piano techniques that the subjects practiced at the onset of overuse hand problems. The octave position was to strike 2 keys that were 16.7 cm apart simultaneously with the thumb and small finger, and the chord position was to strike 3 keys with 4.8 cm between the borders. METHODS: The abduction angle of both the thumbs and the small fingers of 10 pianists while playing a chord and an octave were measured repeatedly with a video-based passive marker detection system. The angles were compared between pianists with large hand spans and those with small hand spans. RESULTS: When playing the octave both the maximal and minimal abduction angles of the thumb were significantly larger for the smaller-hand pianists as compared with the pianists with larger hand spans. When playing the chord the maximal abduction angle of the thumb of small-hand-span pianists was significantly larger than that of large-hand-span pianists. The abduction of the small finger, however, did not differ during performance of either the octave or the chord. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the small-hand-span pianists must abduct the thumb more than large-hand-span pianists while minimizing movement of the small finger. This may cause de Quervain's tenosynovitis in pianists.     

Inter‐individual differences in audio‐motor learning of piano melodies and white matter fiber tract architecture

Humans vary substantially in their ability to learn new motor skills. Here, we examined inter‐individual differences in learning to play the piano, with the goal of identifying relations to structural properties of white matter fiber tracts relevant to audio‐motor learning. Non‐musicians (n = 18) learned to perform three short melodies on a piano keyboard in a pure audio‐motor training condition (vision of their own fingers was occluded). Initial learning times ranged from 17 to 120 min (mean ± SD: 62 ± 29 min). Diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to derive the fractional anisotropy (FA), an index of white matter microstructural arrangement. A correlation analysis revealed that higher FA values were associated with faster learning of piano melodies. These effects were observed in the bilateral corticospinal tracts, bundles of axons relevant for the execution of voluntary movements, and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, a tract important for audio‐motor transformations. These results suggest that the speed with which novel complex audio‐motor skills can be acquired may be determined by variability in structural properties of white matter fiber tracts connecting brain areas functionally relevant for audio‐motor learning. Hum Brain Mapp 35:2483–2497, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .     

钢琴演奏中的思维训练

在钢琴演奏中 ,思维活动伴随、引导演奏的全过程 ,思维能力直接影响演奏技能的发挥与提高 ,判断力、审视力、适应力、想象力是整个思维训练的核心部分 ,在钢琴教学中必须予以重视     

弹钢琴对学生视力影响的观察

为了观察弹奏钢琴对学生视力有无影响,我们无选择地对51名7至20岁的弹钢琴的青少年进行了视力和屈光检查,并有观察组对照。结果表明：青少年学生弹钢琴的年限愈长．视力低下愈多（低下率62．7％）,幅度愈大（视力平均为4．6±0．2）,且均具显著性（P＜0．01）。视力低下的原因,则为近视性屈光不正。可以认为,弹钢琴时若不注意用眼卫生,就可能导致视力下降。     

Estimating liver function in a large cirrhotic cohort: Signal intensity of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid-enhanced MRI

BackgroundTo assess whether gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid-enhanced MRI study is useful to estimate liver function in comparison to the presence or absence of cirrhosis, Child Pugh (CP), Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD), ALBI scores and biochemical test.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed all consecutive Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced-MRI studies performed between 2010 and 2016 in patients with focal liver lesions undergoing clinical evaluation. Patients were divided in study and control group according to the presence of cirrhosis, and then classified by CP, MELD and ALBI. Signal intensity was calculated through the liver-to-muscle ratio in portal- (SI-POR) and hepatobiliary-phase(SI-HEP).ResultsThree-hundred-three Gd-EOB-DTPA liver-enhanced-MRI studies were included. One-hundred-ninety-one patients (63%) were cirrhotic. SI-HEP was significantly lower in cirrhotic group (0.55 ± 0.29 vs 0.66 ± 0.40, p = 0.004).The SI-HEP progressively decreased from CP-A to CP-C (0.59 ± 0.28 to 0.25 ± 0.19, p < 0.0001) and a significant difference was found between MELD ≤ 9 and MELD > 9 groups (0.61 ± 0.31 vs 0.49 ± 0.28, p = 0.007). No differences between ALBI grades were evident. Among biochemical parameters a moderate correlation was found among SI-HEP and total bilirubin, AST and albumin.ConclusionSI-HEP after Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced-MRI effectively stratified patients with different Child Pugh grades and MELD scores. This technique could hence be useful as a novel radiological marker to estimate the underlying liver function.     

Differential cognitive responses to guqin music and piano music in Chinese subjects： an event-related potential study

Objective To compare the cognitive effects of guqin （the oldest Chinese instrument） music and piano music. Methods Behavioral and event-related potential （ERP） data in a standard two-stimulus auditory oddball task were recorded and analyzed. Results This study replicated the previous results of culture-familiar music effect on Chinese subjects： the greater P300 amplitude in frontal areas in a culture-familiar music environment. At the same time, the difference between guqin music and piano music was observed in NI and later positive complex （LPC： including P300 and P500）： a relatively higher participation of right anterior-temporal areas in Chinese subjects. Conclusion The results suggest that the special features of ERP responses to guqin music are the outcome of Chinese tonal language environments given the similarity between Guqin＇s tones and Mandarin lexical tones.     

Not all errors are alike: modulation of error-related neural responses in musical joint action

During joint action, the sense of agency enables interaction partners to implement corrective and adaptive behaviour in response to performance errors. When agency becomes ambiguous (e.g. when action similarity encourages perceptual self–other overlap), confusion as to who produced what may disrupt this process. The current experiment investigated how ambiguity of agency affects behavioural and neural responses to errors in a joint action domain where self–other overlap is common: musical duos. Pairs of pianists performed piano pieces in synchrony, playing either the same pitches (ambiguous agency) or different pitches (unambiguous agency) while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded for each individual. Behavioural and event-related potential results showed no effects of the agency manipulation but revealed differences in how distinct error types are processed. Self-produced ‘wrong note’ errors (substitutions) were left uncorrected, showed post-error slowing and elicited an error-related negativity (ERN) peaking before erroneous keystrokes (pre-ERN). In contrast, self-produced ‘extra note’ errors (additions) exhibited pre-error slowing, error and post-error speeding, were rapidly corrected and elicited the ERN. Other-produced errors evoked a feedback-related negativity but no behavioural effects. Overall findings shed light upon how the nervous system supports fluent interpersonal coordination in real-time joint action by employing distinct mechanisms to manage different types of errors.