Vanessa A. Sluming1, Ihssan Adeeb Abdul-Kareem1, Marta Garcia-Finana2, Patricia E. Cowell3
1Health Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK; 2Centre for Medical Statistics and Health Evaluation, University of Liverpool; 3School of Human Communication Sciences, University of Sheffield
Corpus callosum (CC) is considered to be the information superhighway between the cerebral hemispheres and has shown differences in cross-sectional area between musicians and non-musician. We investigated CC morphometry between male orchestral musicians and non-musicians using a technique addressing regional CC anatomy and shape to advantage. In posterior part of CC (widths cluster W89-94), string-playing musicians showed larger cluster relative to non-musicians which we interpret as supporting visuospatial cognition, notably sight reading ability, essential for orchestral musical performance, through increasing connections between visual and language regions. Lack of significant findings in clusters within anterior parts of CC contradicts earlier studies.