Expertise is defined as superior performance within a specific domain (Ullén et al., 2016) and is characterized by specific behavioral skills reliant upon brain plasticity. Music has emerged as a fruitful domain for the investigation of expertise and brain plasticity. Music creation and performance involve the interaction of multiple modalities and higher-order cognitive functions, which result in behavioral, structural, and functional changes at multiple time scales (Herholz & Zatorre, 2012; Zatorre et al., 2007). 

Working memory (WM) denotes cognitive systems with limited capacity for temporal maintenance and manipulation of information (Masse et al., 2019). Expert WM refers to a superior WM capacity and manipulation ability regarding domain-specific stimuli (e.g., musical melodies and scores in expert musicians). Using music as a model domain, a crucial question is how expert (musical) WM specifically operates at the neural level; in other words, how musical training modulates the WM system.

In this project, we conduct a series of studies to further characterize musical WM by integrating behavioral, neuroimaging, developmental, and genetic techniques. We compare behavioral performance as well as neural activity and functional connectivity of musicians and non-musicians in a musical WM task, trace the development of musical WM abilities in children, and plan to disentangle the environmental and genetic factors involved in such abilities using twin modeling (see Current Research Projects below). These studies of expert WM are part of a broader characterization of anatomical and functional specializations in musicians using ultra-high field (7T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies that involve collaborations between several international laboratories.