It's All in the Wrist: Neural Substrates of Rhythmic Timing in Young and Older Professional Musicians and Controls

80 young (20--35 yrs) and older (54-67 yrs) professional musicians and age-matched novices (20 in each group) performed unimanual tapping tasks, which either required low-level timing,rhythmic sequencing, or switching between different rhythms. Data was collected during two fMRI scan sessions with (for novices) six laboratory training sessions in between. Professional musicians of both age groups outperformed novices and age-effects were pronounced in novices and in tasks requiring sequencing or cognitive control. Besides well-documented motor networks active in all groups, we found that novices heavily relied on parieto-prefrontal networks (Left IPS, Right IPL, R+L DLPFC) for sequencing and even more so for switching tasks. In contrast, expert musicians showed no (young musicians) or less activation (older musicians) of prefrontal regions or IPS in these tasks. Instead, musicians showed pronounced activation in the primary sensorimotor cortex. Acquisition and maintenance of high-level motor control apparently amounts to a gradual release from domain-general cognitive control through optimizing task-specific "lower-level" functions.status: publishe