Abstract:

The discrepant effects of dance and music training on gray matter volume are still unknown. In this study, We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method to analyze the structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data of modern dancers, string instrument players and controls subjects. Our results showed increased gray matter volume (GMV) among cortical, subcortical and the cerebellum areas within the modern dancers and localized cortical regions in the string instrument players respectively. Moreover, among the three groups only modern dancers showed decreased GMV between cortical and subcortical regions. The results suggested a systematical and widespread effects of modern dance training as well as an effector-specific training outcome in the auditory-motor-semantic cortex of the string instrument players.

Key words: modern dance training, string instrument training, voxel-based morphometry (VBM)