Brain-behavior associations of cognitive skills and cortical structures in developing populations influenced by musical experience

Poster Session C - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Ms. Hilda F. Parra^1,2 (hparra@ucsd.edu), Dr. Timothy T. Brown¹, Dr. John R. Iversen^1,3; ¹University of California San Diego, ²San Diego State University, ³McMaster University

The cognitive benefits associated with learning to play an instrument include enhanced skills related to language, executive functioning, and musical processing [2, 1, 3, 4]. Furthermore, cross-sectional studies have also noted structural changes in musicians’ brains along the cerebellum, temporal, parietal and frontal regions [5]. However, longitudinal studies can further explore the trajectories of potential associations between structural brain changes and performance of cognitive skills. The current study is a follow-up to a study that examined performance-based differences and structural differences exclusively in groups of child participants. In the current study, behavioral and structural data from the Pediatric Longitudinal Imaging Neurocognition and Genetics study (PLING), (n = 68, ages: 5-12 years) was collected and analyzed. The goal is to analyze the changes in brain-behavior associations of cognitive skills and cortical structures in developing populations during three years. A subgroup of participants learned to play an instrument as part of the study on Studying the Influence Music Practice Has On Neurodevelopment in Youth (SIMPHONY), (n = 23, ages: 5-12 years). Preliminary results demonstrate higher cortical volume levels of the left Cerebellum associated with a higher performance in language measures of phonological awareness, reading accuracy and syntactic processing in participants with a musical background. The pattern then inverses around the third time point. The current conclusion is that participants without a musical background appear to experience a “catching-up” growth during the third time point. Ongoing analyses will test additional associations in the temporal, parietal, and frontal regions.

Topic Area: METHODS: Neuroimaging