Bimanual symmetric/asymmetric piano task reveals differential time-courses for brain activation in novice pianists

Abstract

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 of piano training and compared them to trained musicians. The novices performed a piano playing task in the fMRI scanner using an MRI-compatible keyboard at six time-points, in increasing time intervals, while the musicians performed the task once. Brain activation and training-induced changes were assessed in bimanual symmetric and asymmetric conditions.

Executing the piano task elicited canonical auditory-motor brain activation patterns in the novices. However, the two conditions exhibited significant differences in the motor, parietal and insular cortices bilaterally, and in the right dorsal premotor cortex and left cerebellum.
The time-course of neuroplastic reorganisation depended on the bimanual demands of the task. In the symmetric condition, brain activation in the insula and right inferior frontal gyrus decreased continuously, while the activation in the cortical and subcortical areas of the motor network increased at various stages of training. In the asymmetric condition, regions-specific decreases in brain activation were observed in the supplementary motor, parietal, and insular cortex, and the cerebellum.
Before training, brain activation differences were observed between the novices and musicians only in the asymmetric condition; these differences were not present upon training completion.

These findings highlight the transition from spatial attention to automated movements during piano training. In the asymmetric condition, the additional demands of bimanual coordination in novices were related to increased brain activation in the motor system, which diminished as training progressed. Thus, the changes in task-related brain activation were highly context-dependent and demand-driven, a factor to consider when designing and evaluating music-based health interventions.

Full text

Asymmetric Symmetric
Before training After 26 weeks of training
Symmetric
Asymmetric
Asymmetric
>
Symmetric
T-value
a.olszewska@nencki.edu.pl
The task was performed in
fixed-finger position on an
MRI-compatible piano [2]
(Fig.4) at the onset of
training and after 1, 6, 13
and 26 weeks of training.
Additionally, 20 musicians
with secondary music
school degrees (female,
18-26 yo) performed the
task once and were
compared to the novices
before and after training.
Twenty-four novice pianists (female, 18-23 yo) underwent a
26- week unified, original piano training course [1].
The participants performed a piano key pressing fMRI task,
designed to test bimanual aspects of training-related changes.
Olszewska A.M., Gaca M., Droździel D., Jednorog K., Marchewka A., Herman A.M.
1 Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland;
2 Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland;
* These authors share senior authorship.
1 1 1 2 1* 1*
Bimanual symmetric/asymmetric
piano task reveals differential
time-courses for brain activation
in novice pianists
Introduction
[1] Olszewska et al. 2023, DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17877
[2] Olszewska et al. 2024, DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25312
[3] Penhune en Steele 2012, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.09.044
[4] Jäncke et al., 2000, DOI: 10.1016/S1053-8119(00)91795-6
[5] Haslinger et al., 2004, DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20028
The findings of the current project
highlight the transition from spatial
attention to automated movements during
piano training, similarly to studies on
motor sequence learning [3].
The general u-shaped trajectory of changes
revealed dynamic processes associated
with functional brain organisation during
musical training.
This is the first study to show the effect of
musical training in novices on the demands
of bimanual coordination (Fig. 3), which
was in line with studies comparing
musicians to non-musicians [4, 5].
The changes in task-related brain
activation were highly context-dependent
and demand-driven, a factor to consider
when designing and evaluating music-
based health interventions.
References
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.
Here, we explore aspects of bimanual coordination in novice pianists during
twenty-six weeks of piano training in an fMRI task with symmetric and
asymmetric bimanual conditions. We study the time-courses of the changes
longitudinally and in a cross-sectional comparison with trained musicians.
Methods
Results
Selected time-courses of training-related changes
The symmetric and asymmetric conditions
revealed different time-courses of training-
related changes in some areas, such as the
supplementary motor area or the inferior
parietal gyrus. Other brain regions, such as
the right insula, have shown similar
dynamics of training-related changes in
both conditions.
This research is funded by
the National Science Center
Grant 2018/30/E/HS6/00206
Task demands
Differences novices vs musicians
Before training, brain activation differences
were observed between the novices and
musicians only in the asymmetric condition
in the right parietal cortex and the bilateral
dorsal premotor cortex.
These differences were not present upon
training completion.
Conclusions
Both the symmetric and asymmetric
conditions evoked canonical brain
responses in the motor and auditory
networks and regions involved in auditory-
motor coordination.
However, the asymmetric condition,
compared to the symmetric condition,
required more brain activation in these
regions, suggesting that asymmetrical
movement required additional processing
resources to support its increased demands
associated with bimanual coordination.
Fig. 4. The fixed-finger position in the task
and the MRI-compatible instrument.
Fig. 5. Musical notation of the stimuli used in the symmetric and asymmetric
conditions of the MRI task.
Fig. 1. Effect of Task revealing brain regions associated with task
performance in the symmetric and asymmetric conditions and their
comparison.
Fig. 2. Selected time-courses visualising the differential time-courses
of brain activation in the symmetric and asymmetric conditions.
* - within-condition significant difference between measuements.
Fig. 3. Differences novices > musicians (orange) before and after
training in the two experimental conditions.
Bimanual demands were manipulated in two task
conditions, requiring either symmetrical or asymmetrical
movement of the digits (Fig.5).
L R
L R
L R
L R
L R
L R
y = -18 x = 28 z = 56
y = -20 x = 11 z = 57
y = 18 x = -32 z = 50
42
0
44
0
8.1
0
L R
x = 18 z = 59
5.8
0
T value
All statistical maps use multiple comparison corrections
at the cluster level (FWEc).