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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on December 10, 2008
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhn196
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Musicianship as Revealed by Cortical Thickness and Voxel-Based Morphometry

Patrick Bermudez1,2, Jason P. Lerch3, Alan C. Evans1 and Robert J. Zatorre1,2

1 Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada H3A 2B4, 2 BRAMS Laboratory, Montreal, Québec, Canada H3A 2B4, 3 Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada H2V 4P3

Address correspondence to Patrick Bermudez, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 University Street, Room 276, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3A 2B4. Email: patrick{at}bic.mni.mcgill.ca.

We used a multimethod approach to investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of musicianship and absolute pitch (AP). Cortical thickness measures, interregional correlations applied to these thicknesses, and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were applied to the same magnetic resonance imaging data set of 71 musicians (27 with AP) and 64 nonmusicians. Cortical thickness was greater in musicians with peaks in superior temporal and dorsolateral frontal regions. Correlations between 2 seed points, centered on peaks of thickness difference within the right frontal cortex, and all other points across the cortex showed greater specificity of significant correlations among musicians, with fewer and more discrete areas correlating with the frontal seeds, including the superior temporal cortex. VBM of gray matter (GM)–classified voxels yielded a strongly right-lateralized focus of greater GM concentration in musicians centered on the posterolateral aspect of Heschl's gyrus. Together, these results are consistent with functional evidence emphasizing the importance of a frontotemporal network of areas heavily relied upon in the performance of musical tasks. Among musicians, contrasts of AP possessors and nonpossessors showed significantly thinner cortex among possessors in a number of areas, including the posterior dorsal frontal cortices that have been previously implicated in the performance of AP tasks.

Key Words: cortical thickness • voxel-based morphometry • musician • cortex • auditory • frontal


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