The Microstructural Plasticity of the Arcuate Fasciculus Undergirds Improved Speech in Noise Perception in Musicians.

ABSTRACT: Musical training is thought to be related to improved language skills, for example, understanding speech in background noise. Although studies have found that musicians and nonmusicians differed in morphology of bilateral arcuate fasciculus (AF), none has associated such white matter features with speech-in-noise (SIN) perception. Here, we tested both SIN and the diffusivity of bilateral AF segments in musicians and nonmusicians using diffusion tensor imaging. Compared with nonmusicians, musicians had higher fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right direct AF and lower radial diffusivity in the left anterior AF, which correlated with SIN performance. The FA-based laterality index showed stronger right lateralization of the direct AF and stronger left lateralization of the posterior AF in mus

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8328222 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature