German Title: Quellenaktivität und tonotope Organisation des auditorischen Cortex bei Musikern und Nichtmusikern

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Translation of abstract (English)

In a magnetoencephalographic study we have compared the processing of sinusoidal tones in the auditory cortex of nine professional musicians, nine amateur musicians and nine non-musicians. The frequency of the tones ranged from 100 to 5600 Hz. On average, the evoked source activity of the primary auditory cortex occuring at 19-30 ms was 87 larger for musicians than for non-musicians. The increase of the late secondary component at 100 ms was considerably smaller (30) and at the limit of significance. The magnitude of the primary source activity correlated significantly with music aptitude, measured by the standardized Advanced Measure of Music Audiation (AMMA) test. A correlation with starting age of musical education was not found. These results may be interpreted as a neurophysiological support for the hypothesis of a predominant genetic predisposition of music aptitude proposed by Gordon (1987). The early source activity of the primary auditory cortex revealed a strong logarithmic organization (the lower frequencies more superficial, 2.3 mm/octave), the late activity at 100 ms a mirror-imaged tonotopic map (the higher frequencies more superficial, 1.45 mm/octave) in the planum temporale. A correlation with the music aptitude was not found.