Functional specializations for music processing in the human newborn brain

Abstract

In adults, specific neural systems with right-hemispheric weighting are necessary to process pitch, melody, and harmony as well as structure and meaning emerging from musical sequences. It is not known to what extent the specialization of these systems results from longterm exposure to music or from neurobiological constraints. One way to address this question is to examine how these systems function at birth, when auditory experience is minimal. We used functional MRI to measure brain activity in 1-to 3-day-old newborns while they heard excerpts of Western tonal music and altered versions of the same excerpts. Altered versions either included changes of the tonal key or were permanently dissonant. Music evoked predominantly right-hemispheric activations in primary and higher order auditory cortex. During presentation of the altered excerpts, hemodynamic responses were significantly reduced in the right auditory cortex, and activations emerged in the left inferior frontal cortex and limbic structures. These results demonstrate that the infant brain shows a hemispheric specialization in processing music as early as the first postnatal hours. Results also indicate that the neural architecture underlying music processing in newborns is sensitive to changes in tonal key as well as to differences in consonance and dissonance.auditory cortex | functional MRI | neonates | emotion

Neural language networks at birth

“…This finding suggests a higher reliance on prosodic than segmental information during speech processing in newborns. Such an interpretation would be compatible with optical imaging data reported for 3-mo-olds (24); moreover, it is reminiscent of a comparable right-predominant activation in primary and secondary auditory cortex when newborns listen to music (36). Together, our results suggest that very early in life, speech processing and music processing rely partially on the same neural substrates in the right auditory cortex.…”

“…However, the full brain activation pattern for speech in newborns (present study) shows similarities and differences from the pattern reported for newborns while hearing music (36). Crucially, in both studies, the activations at birth were not confined to primary and secondary auditory cortices but extended toward higher associative brain areas, for music being associated with a highly predominant overall right hemispheric activation (36), and for language showing an extended bilateral hemispheric involvement (present study).…”

Altered White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Prelingual Deafness: A High-Resolution Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Imaging Study

“…Bach concerto blindfolded, 27 indicating that this area supports higher musical representations. 25 A recent functional MR imaging study 28 indicates that the planum polare of a neonate, whose brain was not yet functionally specialized, was activated by musical stimuli. For adults, this area becomes increasingly involved with increasing melodic complexity.…”

The basis of musical consonance as revealed by congenital amusia

“…Although their perception is in some cases dependent on context (4), marked differences between consonance and dissonance are typically apparent even in isolated chords (5)(6)(7)(8). Preferences for consonance appear to be present in human infants (9)(10)(11)(12) and perhaps also in other species with little exposure to music (13,14, although see also ref. 15), consistent with a biological basis.…”