scholarly journals Autistic traits, resting-state connectivity, and absolute pitch in professional musicians: shared and distinct neural features

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wenhart ◽  
R. A. I. Bethlehem ◽  
S. Baron-Cohen ◽  
E. Altenmüller
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wenhart ◽  
R.A.I. Bethlehem ◽  
S. Baron-Cohen ◽  
E. Altenmüller

AbstractBackgroundRecent studies indicate increased autistic traits in musicians with absolute pitch and a higher incidence of absolute pitch in people with autism. Theoretical accounts connect both of these with shared neural principles of local hyper- and global hypoconnectivity, enhanced perceptual functioning and a detail-focused cognitive style. This is the first study to investigate absolute pitch proficiency, autistic traits and brain correlates in the same study.Sample and MethodsGraph theoretical analysis was conducted on resting state (eyes closed and eyes open) EEG connectivity (wPLI, weighted Phase Lag Index) matrices obtained from 31 absolute pitch (AP) and 33 relative pitch (RP) professional musicians. Small Worldness, Global Clustering Coefficient and Average Path length were related to autistic traits, passive (tone identification) and active (pitch adjustment) absolute pitch proficiency and onset of musical training using Welch-two-sample-tests, correlations and general linear models.ResultsAnalyses revealed increased Path length (delta 2-4 Hz), reduced Clustering (beta 13-18 Hz), reduced Small-Worldness (gamma 30-60 Hz) and increased autistic traits for AP compared to RP. Only Clustering values (beta 13-18 Hz) were predicted by both AP proficiency and autistic traits. Post-hoc single connection permutation tests among raw wPLI matrices in the beta band (13-18 Hz) revealed widely reduced interhemispheric connectivity between bilateral auditory related electrode positions along with higher connectivity between F7-F8 and F8-P9 for AP. Pitch naming ability and Pitch adjustment ability were predicted by Path length, Clustering, autistic traits and onset of musical training (for pitch adjustment) explaining 44% respectively 38% of variance.ConclusionsResults show both shared and distinct neural features between AP and autistic traits. Differences in the beta range were associated with higher autistic traits in the same population. In general, AP musicians exhibit a widely underconnected brain with reduced functional integration and reduced small-world-property during resting state. This might be partly related to autism-specific brain connectivity, while differences in Path length and Small-Worldness reflect other ability-specific influences. This is further evidence for different pathways in the acquisition and development of absolute pitch, likely influenced by both genetic and environmental factors and their interaction.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Wenhart ◽  
Ye-Young Hwang ◽  
Eckart Altenmüller

AbstractAutistic people exhibit enhanced abilities to find and extract visual or auditory figures out of a meaningful whole (disembedding). Studies have shown heightened autistic traits in professional musicians with absolute pitch (AP). This study investigates whether such musicians show an advantage in an interleaved melody recognition task (IMRT).A total of N=59 professional musicians (AP=27) participated in the study. In each trial a probe melody was followed by an interleaved sequence. Subjects had to indicate as to whether the probe melody was present in the interleaved sequence. Sensitivity index d’ and response bias c were calculated according to signal detection theory. Additionally, a pitch adjustment test measuring fine-graded differences in absolute pitch proficiency, the Autism-Spectrum-Quotient and a visual embedded figures test were conducted.AP performance was enhanced overall compared to RP. Absolute pitch proficiency, visual disembedding ability and musicality predicted approximately 39.2% of variance in the interleaved melody recognition test. No correlations were found between IMRT and autistic traits.The stable pitch-label associations of AP might serve as additional sensory cues during pre-attentive processing in recognizing interleaved melodies. Results are in line with a detailed-oriented cognitive style and enhanced perceptional functioning of AP musicians similar to that observed in autism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (9) ◽  
pp. S291-S292
Author(s):  
Natalia Gass ◽  
Zeru Peterson ◽  
Alexander Sartorius ◽  
Wolfgang Weber-Fahr ◽  
Jonathan Rochus Reinwald ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (9) ◽  
pp. S177
Author(s):  
Leah Thomas ◽  
Melinda Westlund Schreiner ◽  
Katie Bessette ◽  
Rebecca Easter ◽  
Alina Dillahunt ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 929-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Najmeh Khalili-Mahani ◽  
Matthias J. van Osch ◽  
Mark de Rooij ◽  
Christian F. Beckmann ◽  
Mark A. van Buchem ◽  
...  

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