Neural control of playing a reversed piano: empirical evidence for an unusual cortical organization of musical functions.

Full Abstract

Using functional magnetic imaging techniques and neuropsychological tests, we studied a young male musician (C.S.) who performs at a professional level both on a regular piano keyboard and on a reverse keyboard (reversed right to left). The participant was left-handed, had left dominance for language but, remarkably, right dominance for the control of piano playing on both keyboards. With respect to music perception, C.S. showed left-sided activation dominance within the left superior temporal sulcus, which is normally associated with higher order auditory processing and right-sided activations in the secondary sensory cortex extending into the supramarginal gyrus. We suggest that C.S.'s pattern of functional asymmetry, characterized by audio-motor control using a right-sided network, could be a factor in his exceptional piano-playing ability on both the standard and reversed keyboard.

Author information

Author/s: Jäncke, Lutz (L); Baumann, Simon (S); Koeneke, Susan (S); Meyer, Martin (M); Laeng, Bruno (B); Peters, Michael (M); Lutz, Kai (K);

Affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. l.jaencke(-atsign-)psychologie.unizh.ch

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Neuroreport (Neuroreport), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Mar; vol 17 (issue 4) : pp 447-51

Dates: Created 2006/03/03; Completed 2006/05/22; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16514374, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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