Decreased Gray-Matter Volume in Insular Cortex as a Correlate of Singers’ Enhanced Sensorimotor Control of Vocal Production

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Lirao Wei¹  Wenda Wang³  Na Chen⁴  Hanjun Liu⁵  Jeffery A. Jones⁶  Gaolang Gong⁷ 

[1] Department of Music, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China;Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China;Department of Rehabilitation, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China;Department of Rehabilitation, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China;Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China;Psychology Department and Laurier Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada;State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;

关键词: auditory feedback;    speech motor control;    voxel-based morphology;    insula;    singing;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnins.2019.00815

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Accumulating evidence has shown enhanced sensorimotor control of vocal production as a consequence of extensive singing experience. The neural basis of this ability, however, is poorly understood. Given that the insula mediates motor aspects of vocal production, the present study investigated structural plasticity in insula induced by singing experience and its link to auditory feedback control of vocal production. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to examine the differences in gray matter (GM) volume in the insula of 21 singers and 21 non-singers. An auditory feedback perturbation paradigm was used to examine the differences in auditory-motor control of vocal production between singers and non-singers. Both groups vocalized sustained vowels while hearing their voice unexpectedly pitch-shifted −50 or −200 cents (200 ms duration). VBM analyses showed that singers exhibited significantly lower GM volumes in the bilateral insula than non-singers. When exposed to pitch perturbations in voice auditory feedback, singers involuntarily compensated for pitch perturbations in voice auditory feedback to a significantly lesser degree than non-singers. Moreover, across the two sizes of pitch perturbations, the magnitudes of vocal compensations were positively correlated with the total regional GM volumes in the bilateral insula. These results indicate that extensive singing training leads to decreased GM volumes in insula and suggest that morphometric plasticity in insula contributes to the enhanced sensorimotor control of vocal production observed in singers.

【 授权许可】

Unknown