In article <hanalei-0402951217530001 at port07.rain.org> hanalei at rain.org writes:
>Hi, Max! You have many interesting questions, and I have one interesting
>recommendation: Find a copy of Dr. Gottfried Schlaug's (principal author)
>research article in the journal SCIENCE concerning musicians' brains.
>According to this study, musicians' brains are structured differently from
>other people's. In fact, the researchers found that the left-hemisphere's
>planum temporale is enlarged in musicians' brains. This is contrary to
>what many brain specialists had assumed since the enlarged structure is in
>the analytical, verbal left hemisphere rather than in the intuitive,
>gestaltic, nonverbal right hemisphere. I liked the suggestion that the
>findings could lend support to the idea that exposing the unborn fetus to
>music may enhance development of the anatomical structures necessary for
>perfect pitch!
I have two observations and a questions regarding this "new discovery"?
(1) The asymmetry between the left and right planum temporale is not a new
discovery. Bonin (1962) was the first to report that the left planum
temporale was greater in size than the right, anywhere from 65% to 90%
depending on the sample. This discovery was not attributed to subjects
participating in the musical domain. Furthermore, the enlargement of the
planum temporale compensates the greater Heschl's gyri on the right
hemisphere. Further studies (Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968; Teszner et
al., 1972; Witelson & Palie, 1973; Wada et al., 1975; Rubens et al.,
1976; Kopp et al., 1977; Galaburda et al., 1978) found similar results.
(2) I haven't yet seen nor read the article in question; I am only relying on
the previous post and the Reuters report on Friday. However, there seems to
some contradiction with previous studies which examined "pitch". Neuroscience
investigations, including Zatorre (1984), have found that the RIGHT TEMPORAL
LOBE was attributed to pitch discrimination abilities. Which one is it?
(3) Why is Schlaug (1995) using a non-journalistic forum (lay
magazine type VS rigourous referreed journals) to publish his findings since
the possiblity of including a well documented results section (with all the
statistics) will be diminished?
What do you think?
Marc St-Aubin
==============================================
SUDBURY SPORT SCIENCE Research Rehab & Technologie
______________________________________________
Marc St-Aubin
Consultant
194 Braebrook Avenue, Pointe-Claire, PQ, CANADA, H9R 1V5
tel/fax (514) 630-5752 st.aubin at interlink.net
Education, Sport & Health
Corporate Business
Performing Arts
_______________________________________________
"Providing High Performance....
L'Occasion d'atteindre la Haute Performance"
===============================================
