| Abstract | Objective:
Prior studies have found structural and functional brain differences between singers and vocally untrained individuals. However, it is unknown how long singing practice might take to elicit singer-like neural reorganization in vocally untrained populations. The aim of this study was to examine functional brain changes associated with singing practice for four weeks, in three individuals previously not trained in singing. Additionally, potential relationships between singing performance and brain activity were examined.
Methods:
Three female subjects with no prior singing training practiced an atypical melody (in Phrygian mode) for four weeks. Participants underwent fMRI brain scans while singing, and simultaneous acoustic data were collected on the first day of singing practice (baseline) and four times at the end of every week of singing practice. An fMRI sparse imaging protocol was implemented to minimize the negative effects of background noise and motion artifacts in brain data and singing performance. The fMRI BOLD signal was inspected for each participant in specific regions of interest previously found to be relevant for singing (e.g., primary sensorimotor cortex, superior temporal cortex, among others) in search of possible neural trends (activation, deactivation, or a combination of both). Brain activity and pitch accuracy were examined to explore the correspondence of neural and behavioral findings.
Results and Conclusions:
Each participant showed different trends in brain activation and singing performance as practice progressed each week. Brain activation trends did not seem to be time dependent but were instead connected with improvements in pitch accuracy (i.e., vocal learning). Most brain regions increased activity in correspondence with significant improvements in pitch accuracy and maintained or decreased activity over time as pitch accuracy gains were maintained. One participant who achieved her highest pitch accuracy at the very end of the four-week experiment showed increases in brain activation over time. In contrast, an activation-deactivation trend was found in the other two participants, who achieved high pitch accuracy earlier in the study. Results suggest that factors such as novelty, difficulty and idiosyncratic predispositions may be more relevant than time in singing and vocal learning. Significance and implications will be discussed.
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