Action observation and sensorimotor brain activity following drumming training: a longitudinal fMRI study

Despite growing evidence that motor training modifies action observation networks, the specific brain regions that change longitudinally remain unclear. Here we used functional MRI to track brain activation during an active observation task (drumming videos with one-back detection) across a 21-week drumming training programme in 14 healthy adults. Paired-samples t-tests of six prespecified, hypothesis-driven bilateral ROIs identified nominal Pre-to-Post increases in the IFG pars opercularis [t(13) = -3.302, p = 0.006, d = 0.882], Broca area [p = 0.011, d = 0.790], and supramarginal gyrus [p = 0.033, d = 0.638], and nominal decreases in the hippocampus, angular gyrus, and lingual gyrus (all p < 0.05). After Bonferroni correction across the six prespecified ROIs, only the IFG pars opercularis increase remained significant. Exploratory correlations between neural and behavioural measures were examined separately. The execution task at post-training produced robust activation of sensorimotor regions, representing a post-training snapshot only. These findings motivate future controlled studies examining premotor and auditory cortex activation in clinical populations.