The language network does not support music perception across a range of music experience

Abstract

Music and language share many similarities, yet music does not elicit a response in the language brain areas in adults with typical amounts of music experience, and patients with aphasia show preserved music ability. However, this dissociation might not generalize across development or expertise: it may not yet be present in children, who have limited experience with language and music, or it may be diminished in musicians with extensive music training. To evaluate these possibilities, we here used a precision fMRI approach to examine the responses in the language areas of children (aged 4-16 years, n=80) and adult musicians (n=10) to music. We found that the results obtained previously for non-musician adults replicate in two new control samples and, critically, generalize to both of the newly tested populations: the language areas are already selective for language relative to music in young children, showing no age-related change from early to late childhood, and remain selective despite extensive music training in highly experienced musicians. Thus, it appears that the amount of music exposure and practice have little effect on how the language brain areas respond to music. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT For centuries, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and neuroscientists have noted similarities between language and music, leading to the hypothesis that these two domains may share processing mechanisms in the human brain. This hypothesis has not found empirical support: in adults with typical amounts of musical experience, language and music processing appear to draw on distinct systems. Here we asked whether the amount of experience with music affects this dissociation. We tested both children, who have less music and language experience than a typical adult, and highly trained musicians with extensive music experience, and found that the language system does not respond to music in either of these populations. These findings suggest that selectivity for language is not affected by music experience.