Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/20164
Title
Evidence for Enhanced Interoceptive Accuracy in Professional Musicians
Author(s)
Date issued
2015-12-17
Citation
Schirmer-Mokwa KL, Fard Pouyan R, Zamorano Andres AM, Finkel S, Birbaumer N, Kleber BA. Evidence for Enhanced Interoceptive Accuracy in Professional Musicians. Front Behav Neurosci. 2015 Dec 17;9:349.
Language
Inglés
Document type
research article
Abstract
Interoception is defined as the perceptual activity involved in the processing of internal bodily signals. While the ability of internal perception is considered a relatively stable trait, recent data suggest that learning to integrate multisensory information can modulate it. Making music is a uniquely rich multisensory experience that has shown to alter motor, sensory, and multimodal representations in the brain of musicians. We hypothesize that musical training also heightens interoceptive accuracy comparable to other perceptual modalities. Thirteen professional singers, twelve string players, and thirteen matched non-musicians were examined using a well-established heartbeat discrimination paradigm complemented by self-reported dispositional traits. Results revealed that both groups of musicians displayed higher interoceptive accuracy than non-musicians, whereas no differences were found between singers and string-players. Regression analyses showed that accumulated musical practice explained about 49% variation in heartbeat perception accuracy in singers but not in string-players. Psychometric data yielded a number of psychologically plausible inter correlations in musicians related to performance anxiety. However, dispositional traits were not a confounding factor on heartbeat discrimination accuracy. Together, these data provide first evidence indicating that professional musicians show enhanced interoceptive accuracy compared to non musicians We argue that musical training largely accounted for this effect.
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