Skip to main content
Log in

The effect of early musical training on adult motor performance: evidence for a sensitive period in motor learning

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Developmental changes in the human brain coincide with and underlie changes in a wide range of motor and cognitive abilities. Neuroimaging studies have shown that musical training can result in structural and functional plasticity in the brains of musicians, and that this plasticity is greater for those who begin training early in life. However, previous studies have not controlled for differences between early-trained (ET) and late-trained (LT) musicians in the total number of years of musical training and experience. In the present experiment, we tested musicians who began training before and after the age of 7 on learning of a timed motor sequence task. The groups were matched for years of musical experience, years of formal training and hours of current practice. Results showed that ET musicians performed better than LT musicians, and that this performance advantage persisted after 5 days of practice. Performance differences were greatest for a measure of response synchronization, suggesting that early training has its greatest effect on neural systems involved in sensorimotor integration and timing. These findings support the idea that there may be a sensitive period in childhood where enriched motor training through musical practice results in long-lasting benefits for performance later in life. These results are also consistent with the results of studies showing structural changes in motor-related regions of the brain in musicians that are specifically related to training early in life.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Badan M, Hauert C-A, Mounoud P (2000) Sequential pointing in children and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 75:43–69

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baharloo S, Johnston P, Service S, Gitschier J, Freimer N (1998) Absolute pitch: an approach for identification of genetic and nongenetic components. Am J Hum Genetics 62:224–231

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barnea-Goraly N, Menon V, Eckert M, Tamm L, Bammer R, Karchemskiy, Dant C, Reiss A (2005) White matter development during childhood and adolescence: a cross-sectional diffusion tensor imaging study. Cereb Cortex 15:1848–1854

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beitel R, Schreiner C, Cheung S, Wang X, Merzenich M (2003) Reward-dependent plasticity in the primary auditory cortex of adult monkeys trained to discriminate temporally modulated signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:11070–11075

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson S, Nagy Z, Skare S, Forsman L, Forssberg H, Ullén F (2005) Extensive piano practicing has regionally specific effects on white matter development. Nat Neurosci 8:1148–1150

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bower J (1995) The cerebellum as a sensory acquisition controller. Hum Brain Mapp 2:255–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brainard M, Knudsen E (1998) Sensitive periods for visual calibration of the auditory space map in the barn owl optic tectum. J Neurosci 18(10):3929–3942

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Casey B, Giedd J, Thomas K, (2000) Structural and functional brain development and its relation to cognitive development. Biol Psychol 54:241–257

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Costa-Giomi E, Gilmour R, Siddell J, Lefebvre E (2001) Absolute pitch, early musical instruction and spatial abilities. Ann N Y Acad Sci 930:394–396

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crovitz HG, Zener K (1962) A test for assessing hand and eye dominance. Am J Psychol 75:271–276

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Curtiss S (1977) Genie: a psycholinguistic study of a modern-day wild child. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyon J, Penhune V, Ungerleider L (2003) Distinct contributions of the cortico-striatal and cortico-cerebellar systems to motor skill learning. Neuropsychologia 41:252–262

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elbert T, Pantev C, Wienbruch C, Rockstroh B, Taub E (1995) Increased cortical representation of the fingers of the left hand in string players. Science 270:305–307

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Essens PJ (1986) Hierarchical organization of temporal patterns. Percept Psychophys 40:69–73

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Essens PJ, Povel D-J (1985) Metrical and nonmetrical representations of temporal patterns. Percept Psychophys 37:1–7

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao J, Parsons L, Bower J, Xiong J, Fox P (1996) Cerebellum implicated in sensory acquisition and discrimination rather than motor control. Science 272:545–547

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garvey M, Ziemann U, Bartko J, Denckla M, Barker C, Wassermann E (2003) Cortical correlates of neuromotor development in healthy children. Clin Neurophysiol 114:1662–1670

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gaser C, Schlaug G (2003) Brain structure differences between musicians and non-musicians. J Neurosci 23:9240–9245

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giedd J, Blumenthal J, Jeffries N, Castellanos F, Liu H, Zijdenbos A, Paus T, Evans A, Rapoport J (1999) Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nat Neurosci 2:861–863

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gotay N, Giedd J, Lusk L, Hayashi K, Greenstein D, Vaituzis A, Nugent T, Merman D, Clasen L, Toga A, Rapoport J, Thompson P (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood and through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:8174–8179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubel D, Wiesel T (1965) Binocular interaction in striate cortex of kittens reared with artificial squint. J Neurophysiol 28:1041–1059

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson S, Kobayashi M, Horkan C, Pascual-Leone A, Alexander M, Schlaug G, (2002) Age-related differences in movement representation. NeuroImage 17:1720–1728

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huttenlocher P, Dabholkar A (1997) Regional differences in synaptogenesis in human cerebral cortex. J Comp Neurol 387:167–178

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ivry R, Spencer R, Zelaznik H, Diedrichsen J (2003) The cerebellum and event timing. Ann N Y Acad Sci 978:302–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson J, Newport E (1989) Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognit Psychol 21:60–99

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karni A, Meyer G, Jezzard P, Adams M, Turner R, Ungerleider L (1995) Functional MRI evidence for adult motor cortex plasticity during motor skill learning. Nature 377:155–158

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kleim J, Hogg T, VandenBerg P, Cooper N, Bruneau R, Remple M (2004) Cortical synaptogenesis and motor map reorganziation occur during late, but not early, phase of motor skill learning. J Neurosci 24:628–633

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kleim JA, Freeman JH Jr, Bruneau R, Nolan BC, Cooper NR, Zook A, Walters D (2002) Synapse formation is associated with memory storage in the cerebellum. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:13228–13231

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen E (2004) Sensitive periods in the development of the brain and behavior. J Cognit Neurosci 16:1412–1425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koeneke S, Lutz K, Wustenberg T, Jancke L (2004) Long-term training affects cerebellar processing in skilled keyboard players. NeuroReport 15:1279–1282

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lenneberg E (1967) Biological foundations of language. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Miyazaki K, Rakowski A (2002) Recognition of notated melodies by posessors and non-posessors of perfect pitch. Percept Psychophys 64:1337–1345

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paus T, Zijdenbos A, Worsley K, Collins D (1999) Structural maturation of neural pathways in children and adolescents: In vivo study. Science 283:1908–1911

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Penhune V, Doyon J (2002) Dynamic cortical and subcortical networks in learning and delayed recall of timed motor sequences. J Neurosci 22:1397–1406

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Penhune V, Doyon J (2003) Dynamic cortical and subcortical networks involved in early learning and consolidation of timed motor sequences. Cognit Neurosci Soc Abs 134

  • Penhune V, Doyon J (2005) Cerebellum and M1 interaction during early learning of timed motor sequences. Neuroimage 26:801–812

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Penhune VB, Zatorre RJ, Feindel W (1999) The role of auditory cortex in the retention of rhythmic patterns studied in patients with temporal-lobe removals including Heschl’s gyrus. Neuropsychologia 37:315–331

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ragert P, Schmidt A, Altenmuller E, Dinse H (2004) Superior tactile performance and learning in professional pianists: evidence for meta-plasticity in musicians. Eur J Neurosci 19:473–478

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Savion-Lemieux T, Penhune V (2005) The effects of practice and delay on motor skill learning and retention. Exp Brain Res 161:423–431

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schlaug G, Jancke L, Huang Y, Staiger JF, Steinmetz H (1995) Increased corpus callosum size in musicians. Neuropsychologia 33:1047–1055

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider P, Scherg M, Dosch H, Specht H, Gutschalk A, Rupp A (2002) Morphology of Heschl’s gyrus reflects enhanced activation in the auditory cortex of musicians. Nat Neurosci 5:688–694

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schubotz R, Friederici A, von Cramon D (2000) Time perception and motor timing: a common cortical and subcortical basis revealed by fMRI. Neuroimage 11:1–12

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sowell E, Thompson P, Leonard C, Welcome S, Kan E, Toga A (2004) Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and brain growth in normal children. J Neurosci 24:8223–8231

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tober CL, Pollak SD (2005) Motor development of post-institutionalized children across time. In: Biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA

  • Toni I, Krams M, Turner R, Passingham R (1998) The time course of changes during motor sequence learning: a whole-brain fMRI study. Neuroimage 8:50–61

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe D, Penhune V, Savion-Lemieux T (2004) The effect of musical experience on the acquisition and retention of a temporal motor sequence task. Soc Cognit Neurosci (Abstracts)

  • Weber-Fox C, Neville H (2001) Sensitive periods differentiate processing of open- and closed-class words: an ERP study of bilinguals. J Speech Lang Hear Res 44:1338–1353

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wiesel T, Hubel D (1965) Extent of recovery from the effects of visual deprivation in kittens. J Neurophysiol 28:1060–1072

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zatorre R (2003) Absolute pitch: a model for understanding the influence of genes and development on neural and cognitive function. Nat Neurosci 6:692–695

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the individuals who participated in this study. The authors gratefully acknowledge the work of Andrea Lee who assisted in the collection of these data. Special thanks go to Dr. Christine Beckett of the Department of Music at Concordia for her assistance in recruiting musicians. This study was funded by grants from the Canadian National Science and Engineering Research Council and the Fonds pour la Recherche en Santé du Québec.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Virginia B. Penhune.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Watanabe, D., Savion-Lemieux, T. & Penhune, V.B. The effect of early musical training on adult motor performance: evidence for a sensitive period in motor learning. Exp Brain Res 176, 332–340 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0619-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0619-z

Keywords

Navigation