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Hand motor learning in a musical context and prefrontal cortex hemodynamic response: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study

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Abstract

Due to movement automatization, the engagement of high-order cognitive processing during the motor execution of a task is expected to decrease over repetitions and practice. In this study, we assessed single session changes in the prefrontal hemodynamic signals in response to training a piano chord progression in an ecological experimental setting. We acquired functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals from 15 subjects without any previous experience on playing keyboard instruments. Our findings were that oxygenated hemoglobin changes at orbitofrontal cortex followed an inverted U-shaped curve over task execution, while the subjects’ performance presented a steady slope. These results suggest an initial executive function engagement followed by facilitation of motor execution over time.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Jackson Cionek (BrainLatam) and NIRx for technological support. R.A.H. received a scholarship of PIBIC-CNPq (Brazil). J.R.S. is supported by grants FAPESP (Sao Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil) 2018/04654-9 and 2018/21934-5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC, Alameda da Universidade s/n - Bairro Anchieta, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, CEP 09606-045, Brazil

    Rafael Alves Heinze, Patricia Vanzella, Guilherme Augusto Zimeo Morais & João Ricardo Sato

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  1. Rafael Alves Heinze
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  2. Patricia Vanzella
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  3. Guilherme Augusto Zimeo Morais
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  4. João Ricardo Sato
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Correspondence to João Ricardo Sato.

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Alves Heinze, R., Vanzella, P., Zimeo Morais, G.A. et al. Hand motor learning in a musical context and prefrontal cortex hemodynamic response: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study. Cogn Process 20, 507–513 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-019-00925-y

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