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Typical and atypical human auditory cortical development| old_uid | 5571 |
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| title | Typical and atypical human auditory cortical development |
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| start_date | 2008/11/13 |
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| schedule | 10h |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | amphi G2 |
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| summary | The processing of complex auditory information such as in music and speech relies on highly specialized neural systems in the human brain. However, relatively few studies have investigated structural auditory cortical plasticity that may occur when typically developing young children learn an auditory-based skill such as music. Even fewer studies have been conducted on auditory cortical structure in populations with known auditory perceptual atypicalities, such as in congenital amusia (or tone-deafness), a severe developmental musical disorder related to a deficit in pitch processing (Hyde et al., 2004; Foxton et al., 2004), and in autism, a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication. Atypical perception of certain auditory information (e.g., processing human voices) may contribute to the social impairments in autism (Gervais et al., 2004). Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) methods provide an ideal non-invasive means to investigate the structural organization of the auditory cortex with an optimized spatial resolution. I will present recent MRI findings of structural auditory cortical changes after 15 months of musical training that were correlated with auditory perceptual changes in typically developing children (Hyde et al., under review). In addition, I will present MRI findings of atypical auditory cortical structure that was related to auditory perceptual atypicalities both in congenital amusia (Hyde et al., 2006; 2007) and in autism (Hyde et al., 2008). Overall, this research offers important new information regarding typical and atypical structural development of the human auditory cortex. Such non-invasive brain imaging studies may guide possible therapies in developmental disorders in which individuals have atypical auditory processing. |
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| responsibles | Grimault |
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