Neuronal Correlates of Time Precision in Scaleplaying

Background

The basal ganglia are a structure of the telencephalon. They play an important role in motor-learning especially in the rhythm of involuntary and voluntary movements. The research in the field of Parkinsons Disease also shows the basal ganglia as an important region for the rhythm of movement and speach. In a first SPECT study on dance (Brown et.al. 2006) could show the importance of this area during foot movement synchronization „live“ to music in non-professional dancers. In pianists collaborators of our Institute could similarly show that the size of specific structures in the basal ganglia (middle part of the putamen) correlate with the time precision in unimanual scale playing (Granert et. al. 2011).

 

 

Goals

  • Replicate the findings of earlier studies
  • Shed light on the importance of the basal ganglia in bimanual scaleplaying
  • Correlation of biographical data with the time precision in scale playing and MRI-Scans to understand the connection between neuronal substrates and skills of pianists

Experiments

We collected MRI scans, behavioral data and the time precision in scale playing of 35 professional piansts of the HMTMH. We will then run the analysis of the three different data sets and draw conclusions between them.


Involved persons

Publications

  • This project is still in the data analysis phase
 

Contact persons

    Last modified: 2017-02-17

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