... The brain, like most of the body, is a symmetrical structure. There is a planum temporale on each side. Looking for differences in corresponding structures on both sides of the brain is one of the ways scientists learn what is going on inside. In the case of musicians, Ohnishi has found taht the left planum temporale is bigger than hte right. He believes that musical experiences in childhood can influence the development of the planum temporale, but only on the left side.
In one of his more recent studies, Ohnishi used an MRI scanner to see what was happening inside the planum temporale of 28 test subjects while listening to Bach's "Italian Concerto." The left planum temporale was larger in people with that rarest of musical gifts, "perfect pitch."
Finding a larger left planum temporale in musicians and those with perfect pitch was somewhat surprising for brain researchers. Their earlier studies had shown that the right side of the auditory cortex--the collection of brain cells above the right ear--was the crucial area for perceiving pitch, melody, harmony, timbre and rhythm.
Thomas Elbert, a neuroscientist at the University of Konstanz in Germany, found the connection between musical ability and the brain's language center to be especially intriguing. He points out that when retired composes were asked why they stopped writing music, they frequently replied, as did many book authors, that they had nothing more to say. This suggests that language and music may involve the same brain structures.
Ohnishi, who published his findings about the planum temporale in the scientific journal "Cerebral Cortex" this past summer, believes that anatomical differences in the brains of musicians cause them to actually hear music differently than most people. "It is possible that musicians develop a different way of listening to music, which is inherently more analytical," he says...
-Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics
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