[Musical Experience and Brain Plasticity: does musical training change brain structure and function?]

Musical performance is a highly complicated task, requiring precise regulation and organization of sensorimotor system under high order cognitive functions of the human brain. The recent development of non-invasive measurements of brain structure and function, such as magnetic resonance imaging, in addition to conventional assessments, such as electrophysiology, and behavioral or cognitive tasks allows us to study short- and long-term brain plasticity associated with musical training. This article focuses on cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of musicians and indivisuals participating in music classes, reviews findings in terms of plastic and meta-plastic changes in the human brain induced by musical training over short and long period of time, and describes studies revealing transfer learning effects of musical training.