The descending motor tracts are different in dancers and musicians.

Long-term motor training, such as dance or gymnastics, has been associated with increased diffusivity and reduced fiber coherence in regions including the corticospinal tract. Comparisons between different types of motor experts suggest that experience might result in specific structural changes related to the trained effectors (e.g., hands or feet). However, previous studies have not segregated the descending motor pathways from different body-part representations in motor cortex (M1). Further, most previous diffusion tensor imaging studies used whole-brain analyses based on a single tensor, which provide poor information about regions where multiple white matter (WM) tracts cross. Here, we used multi-tensor probabilistic tractography to investigate the specific components of the descending motor pathways in well-matched groups of dancers, musicians and controls. To this aim, we developed a procedure to identify the WM regions below the motor representations of the head, hand, trunk and leg that served as seeds for tractography. Dancers showed increased radial diffusivity (RD) in comparison with musicians, in descending motor pathways from all the regions, particularly in the right hemisphere, whereas musicians had increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the hand and the trunk/arm motor tracts. Further, dancers showed larger volumes compared to both other groups. Finally, we found negative correlations between RD and FA with the age of start of dance or music training, respectively, and between RD and performance on a melody task, and positive correlations between RD and volume with performance on a whole-body dance task. These findings suggest that different types of training might have different effects on brain structure, likely because dancers must coordinate movements of the entire body, whereas musicians focus on fewer effectors.

Structural Covariance Analysis Reveals Differences Between Dancers and Untrained Controls.

Dancers and musicians differ in brain structure from untrained individuals. Structural covariance (SC) analysis can provide further insight into training-associated brain plasticity by evaluating interregional relationships in gray matter (GM) structure. The objectives of the present study were to compare SC of cortical thickness (CT) between expert dancers, expert musicians and untrained controls, as well as to examine the relationship between SC and performance on dance- and music-related tasks. A reduced correlation between CT in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and mean CT across the whole brain was found in the dancers compared to the controls, and a reduced correlation between these two CT measures was associated with higher performance on a dance video game task. This suggests that the left DLPFC is structurally decoupled in dancers and may be more strongly affected by local training-related factors than global factors in this group. This work provides a better understanding of structural brain connectivity and training-induced brain plasticity, as well as their interaction with behavior in dance and music.

Dance and music share gray matter structural correlates.

Intensive practise of sensorimotor skills, such as music and dance, is associated with brain structural plasticity. While the neural correlates of music have been well-investigated, less is known about the neural correlates of dance. Additionally, the gray matter structural correlates of dance versus music training have not yet been directly compared. The objectives of the present study were to compare gray matter structure as measured by surface- and voxel-based morphometry between expert dancers, expert musicians and untrained controls, as well as to correlate gray matter structure with performance on dance- and music-related tasks. Dancers and musicians were found to have increased cortical thickness compared to controls in superior temporal regions. Gray matter structure in the superior temporal gyrus was also correlated with performance on dance imitation, rhythm synchronization and melody discrimination tasks. These results suggest that superior temporal regions are important in both dance- and music-related skills and may be affected similarly by both types of long-term intensive training. This work advances knowledge of the neural correlates of dance and music, as well as training-associated brain plasticity in general.

Sensorimotor integration is enhanced in dancers and musicians.

Studying individuals with specialized training, such as dancers and musicians, provides an opportunity to investigate how intensive practice of sensorimotor skills affects behavioural performance across various domains. While several studies have found that musicians have improved motor, perceptual and sensorimotor integration skills compared to untrained controls, fewer studies have examined the effect of dance training on such skills. Moreover, no study has specifically compared the effects of dance versus music training on perceptual or sensorimotor performance. To this aim, in the present study, expert dancers, expert musicians and untrained controls were tested on a range of perceptual and sensorimotor tasks designed to discriminate performance profiles across groups. Dancers performed better than musicians and controls on a dance imitation task (involving whole-body movement), but musicians performed better than dancers and controls on a musical melody discrimination task as well as on a rhythm synchronization task (involving finger tapping). These results indicate that long-term intensive dance and music training are associated with distinct enhancements in sensorimotor skills. This novel work advances knowledge of the effects of long-term dance versus music training and has potential applications in therapies for motor disorders.

Dance and the brain: a review.

Dance is a universal form of human expression that offers a rich source for scientific study. Dance provides a unique opportunity to investigate brain plasticity and its interaction with behavior. Several studies have investigated the behavioral correlates of dance, but less is known about the brain basis of dance. Studies on dance observation suggest that long- and short-term dance training affect brain activity in the action observation and simulation networks. Despite methodological challenges, the feasibility of conducting neuroimaging while dancing has been demonstrated, and several brain regions have been implicated in dance execution. Preliminary work from our laboratory suggests that long-term dance training changes both gray and white matter structure. This article provides a critical summary of work investigating the neural correlates of dance. It covers functional neuroimaging studies of dance observation and performance as well as structural neuroimaging studies of expert dancers. To stimulate ongoing dialogue between dance and science, future directions in dance and brain research as well as implications are discussed. Research on the neuroscience of dance will lead to a better understanding of brain-behavior relationships and brain plasticity in experts and nonexperts and can be applied to the development of dance-based therapy programs.