Neural Correlates of Processing Syntax in Music and ... - PubMan

Musical Training 32
Currently, there are only very few studies that investigate differences between musicians
and non-musicians at the later processing stages. Moreover, such studies are only
briefly mentioned because syntactic processing is the main topic of the present work
only these processes and their prerequisites are considered. Some differences between
musicians and non-musicians for motor processes will be briefly discussed, because
these involve the sequencing of movements which are based on certain regularities.
Exceptional musical performance requires an extremely fast control of complex movement
patterns which might be reflected in enlarged representations in the motor cortex
(Elbert, Pantev, Wienbruch, Rockstroh, & Taub, 1995; Pascual-Leone, 2001). Furthermore,
increased sensory-motor integration may be established during musical training,
when motor responses are confined in response to auditory feedback (Bangert, Haeusler,
& Altenmüller, 2001; Haueisen & Knösche, 2001; Lotze et al., 2003; Schulz, Ross,
& Pantev, 2003; Schurmann, Raij, Fujiki, & Hari, 2002).
3.5 Transfer effects to other cognitive domains
It has been assumed that musical training may give rise to transfer effects to other cognitive
functions. Whether factors involved in musical training such as bimanual motor
coordination, learning to read music, auditory and memory training, attention, concentration,
and timing etc. can transfer to non-musical domains such as language, mathematics
or spatial reasoning is controversial. Generally, expert performance was demonstrated
to remain relatively domain-specific and there is only sparse evidence for a
transfer of expert’s superior performance to tasks outside their domain of expertise (see,
e.g., Ericsson et al., 1993). However, experts acquire certain cognitive skills that may
allow them to circumvent the limits of short-term memory and serial processing.
Innate musical talent?
Before discussing transfer effects elicited by musical training the pertinent question of
whether the observed differences between musicians and non-musicians are exclusively
acquired through training or are at least in part genetically determined should be discussed.
Howe, Davidson, and Sloboda (1998) summarised, there is little or no evidence to assume
an innate musical talent. Firstly, musical expertise is better explained in terms of
the amount of training (see above): Even crude retrospective measures of practice are
predictive of levels of performance, and Ericsson and Faivre (1988) and Simonton
(1991) showed that even “talented” individuals do not reach high levels of expertise