Changes in singing performance and fMRI activation following right temporal lobe surgery

SJ Wilson; DF Abbott; C Tailby; EC Gentle; DL Merrett; GD Jackson

Journal article

Changes in singing performance and fMRI activation following right temporal lobe surgery

SJ Wilson, DF Abbott, C Tailby, EC Gentle, DL Merrett, GD Jackson

Cortex | ELSEVIER MASSON | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.12.019

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Abstract

Introduction: This study arose in the context of having to estimate risk to the musical abilities of a trained singer (patient A.M.) recommended for right anterior temporal lobectomy (RATL) to ameliorate medically intractable seizures. To date there has been no systematic investigation of reorganisation of musical functions in the presence of epileptogenic lesions, although it is well established that RATL can impair pitch processing in nonmusicians. Methods: Using fMRI, we compared the network activated by covert singing with lyrics in A.M. before and after surgery, while taking language activation and singing expertise into consideration. Before surgery, A.M. showed lower pitch accuracy of..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Sarah Wilson Author

David Abbott Author

Chris Tailby Author

Graeme Jackson Author

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects scheme (DP0449862), the National Health and Medical Research Council Program Grant scheme (#628952) and a Practitioner Fellowship to G.D.J. (#527800), and the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.