, 2008a;

Grahn and Rowe, 2009), and during playing on a silent piano keyboard (Baumann et al., 2007). There is a large literature on the acquisition of motor skills through training, suggesting different contributions of parts of the motor network in different phases of Selleckchem NVP-AUY922 learning (Doyon et al., 2009; Hikosaka et al., 2002). Models of motor skill learning suggest that M1 and premotor cortices are particularly important for learning and storage of the representation of a specific motor sequence, whereas the basal ganglia are more strongly involved in initial stimulus-response associations, and the cerebellum is engaged in online error correction mechanisms, and in optimization of acquired motor sequences (Penhune and Steele, 2012). These models fit well with short- and long-term musical training effects, which have mostly been found for the cortical and cerebellar parts of this network, possibly related to the fact that in music learning fine-tuning of complex Rigosertib molecular weight motor sequences is most relevant. In a cross-sectional study of highly trained pianists, anatomical changes to motor-related pathways were seen in white matter micro-organization as measured with diffusion imaging (Bengtsson et al., 2005), such that amount of musical practice during childhood was associated with greater integrity of corticospinal

tracts. Other parts of the motor network that differ anatomically between trained musicians and nonmusicians include the anterior corpus callosum (Schlaug et al., 1995), motor and premotor cortex (Bermudez et al., 2009; Gaser and Schlaug, 2003), and the cerebellum

(Hutchinson et al., 2003). White-matter connections between auditory and anterior regions also appear to be anatomically more well-organized in musicians (Halwani et al., 2011), a finding which fits well with the more focal cortical thickness intercorrelations reported between temporal and frontal cortices among musicians (Bermudez et al., 2009). Changes in the cortical Sitaxentan representations within the motor network can also be related to the specific type of instrumental practice. Bangert and Schlaug (2006) showed that pianists’ and violinists’ brains can be distinguished even on the gross macroscopic level by examining the shape and size of the part of the motor cortex that contains the representations of the hands. Moreover, pianists and violinists differ regarding lateralization, with a left- and right-hemispheric enlargement, respectively, in line with the fine motor control required for their instruments. Elbert et al. (1995) showed that the cortical representations of the fingers of violinists’ left hands, which are engaged in fine-tuned fingering of the strings during playing, are expanded as assessed by the amplitude and source location of tactile evoked responses measured in MEG, compared to their right hands’ representations or to controls.