The brain of opera singers: experience-dependent changes in functional activation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Motor Control
• Auditory and Speech Processing

Background:

• Motor skill acquisition leads to neural reorganization and brain morphology changes.
• Adaptive changes in the vocal system due to training are not well understood.
• Vocal control relies heavily on intrinsic reflex mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate training-induced adaptive changes in the vocal system.
• To compare brain activation patterns in opera singers, vocal students, and laymen during singing.
• To identify neural correlates of advanced vocal skill acquisition.

Main Methods:

• Neuroimaging experiment involving overt singing of an Italian aria.
• Participants included highly accomplished opera singers, conservatory vocal students, and laymen.
• Functional activation was analyzed using regression analysis with accumulated singing practice.

Main Results:

• Vocal skill training increases functional activation in bilateral primary somatosensory cortex (articulators, larynx).
• Expert singers exhibit additional activation in the right primary sensorimotor cortex, inferior parietal lobe, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
• Subcortical activation increases in basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum with expertise, correlating with practice.

Conclusions:

• Vocal training enhances a cortical network for kinesthetic motor control and sensorimotor guidance.
• Increased subcortical and cerebellar activation suggests greater involvement of implicit motor memory in expert singers.
• Findings have implications for voice rehabilitation and deliberate practice of other implicit motor skills.