Abstract
The arcuate fasciculus (AF) is a neural fiber tract that is critical to speech and music development. Although the predominant role of the left AF in speech development is relatively clear, how the AF engages in music development is not understood. Congenital amusia is a special neurodevelopmental condition, which not only affects musical pitch but also speech tone processing. Using diffusion tensor tractography, we aimed at understanding the role of AF in music and speech processing by examining the neural connectivity characteristics of the bilateral AF among thirty Mandarin amusics. Compared to age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched controls, amusics demonstrated increased connectivity as reflected by the increased fractional anisotropy in the right posterior AF but decreased connectivity as reflected by the decreased volume in the right anterior AF. Moreover, greater fractional anisotropy in the left direct AF was correlated with worse performance in speech tone perception among amusics. This study is the first to examine the neural connectivity of AF in the neurodevelopmental condition of amusia as a result of disrupted music pitch and speech tone processing. We found abnormal white matter structural connectivity in the right AF for the amusic individuals. Moreover, we demonstrated that the white matter microstructural properties of the left direct AF is modulated by lexical tone deficits among the amusic individuals. These data support the notion of distinctive pitch processing systems between music and speech.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the 973 Program [2014CB846103], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31471066, 31221003 and 31521063], the 111 project [B07008], Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission [Z151100003915122], the Interdiscipline Research Funds of Beijing Normal University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. We owe our thanks to members of the music group at the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning for their input. We thank the participants for their support. We thank the reviewers for their valuable and insightful comments.
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Xizhuo Chen and Yanxin Zhao contributed equally to this work.
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Chen, X., Zhao, Y., Zhong, S. et al. The lateralized arcuate fasciculus in developmental pitch disorders among mandarin amusics: left for speech and right for music. Brain Struct Funct 223, 2013–2024 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-018-1608-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-018-1608-2