Alicja Małgorzata Olszewska

Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology | NENCKI · Laboratory of Brain Imaging (LOBI)

Learning to play a musical instrument is a complex task that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. Therefore, musical training is considered a useful framework for the research on training-induced neuroplasticity. However, the classical nature-or-nurture question remains, whether the differences observed betwe...

Music is a universal human phenomenon, and can be studied for itself or as a window into the understanding of the brain. Few neuroimaging studies investigate actual playing in the MRI scanner, likely because of the lack of available experimental hardware and analysis tools. Here, we offer an innovative paradigm that addresses this issue in neuromus...

Musical training exemplifies the acquisition of bimanual skills through sustained practice. However, the bimanual aspect of musical training was rarely investigated in the context of neuroplastic changes over extended durations. This longitudinal study tracked a group of twenty-four young adult novice pianists over their initial twenty-six weeks o...

Learning to play the piano is a unique complex task, integrating multiple sensory modalities and higher order cognitive functions. Longitudinal neuroimaging studies on adult novice musicians show training-related functional changes in music perception tasks. The reorganization of brain activity while actually playing an instrument was studied only...

Learning to play the piano is a unique complex task, integrating multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. Longitudinal neuroimaging studies on adult novice musicians show training-related functional changes in music perception tasks. The reorganisation of brain activity while actually playing an instrument was studied only...

Musical training has been linked to enhanced interoceptive abilities and increased resting-state (RS) functional connectivity (FC) within the interoceptive brain network. We aimed to replicate and extend these findings with a unique cross-sectional and longitudinal study design. Professional musicians and matched individuals with no prior musical e...

Musical training has been linked to enhanced interoceptive abilities and increased resting-state (RS) functional connectivity (FC) within the interoceptive brain network. We aimed to replicate and extend these findings with a unique cross-sectional and longitudinal study design. Professional musicians and matched individuals with no prior musical e...

Learning to play the piano is a complex task, integrating multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. With increasing expertise, the task should become easier as learners’ focus shifts away from basic technique while playing. We hypothesise this shift reflects a functional reorganisation observable via neuroimaging methods in...

The piano is a popular instrument in musical practice, but only a few MRI studies investigate the neuronal mechanisms underlying playing it. MRI-compatible piano requires adaptations for size and materials used. Moreover, study designs often sacrifice ecological validity for experimental controllabillity. We present open-source, proof-of-concept ex...

Musicians use auditory feedback, e.g. sound pitch, to monitor their performance for errors and facilitate learning. The aim of this project is to investigate the processing of errors, understood as a mismatch between the expected and perceived auditory feedback, in musicians. For this purpose, we developed a highly ecological, MRI-compatible keyboa...

Learning to play a musical instrument is a complex task that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions. Therefore, musical training is considered a useful framework for the research of training-induced plasticity. Cross-sectional studies identified structural and functional differences between the brains of musicia...

In order to gain an insight into scholars’ concerns emerging from the COVID-19 crisis, we asked scientists from all over the world about their attitudes and predictions regarding the repercussions of this current crisis on academia. Our data showed that the academic world was placed in an unprecedented situation. Results further showed that everybo...

Objectives: To evaluate at which sensitivity digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) would become cost-effective compared to digital mammography (DM) in a population breast cancer screening program, given a constant estimate of specificity. Methods: In a microsimulation model, the cost-effectiveness of biennial screening for women aged 50-75 was simu...

Background: Because the incidence of breast cancer increases between 45 and 50years of age, a reconsideration is required of the current starting age (typically 50years) for routine mammography. Our aim was to evaluate the quantitative benefits, harms, and cost-effectiveness of lowering the starting age of breast cancer screening in the Dutch gene...

Here, we developed a cell-based biosensor that can assess meat freshness using the Gram-positive model bacterium Bacillus subtilis as a chassis. Using transcriptome analysis, we identified promoters that are specifically activated by volatiles released from spoiled meat. The most strongly activated promoter was PsboA, which drives expression of the...