Functional plasticity coupled with structural predispositions in auditory cortex shape successful music category learning

Abstract

Categorizing sounds into meaningful groups helps listeners more efficiently process the auditory scene and is a foundational skill for speech perception and language development. Yet, how auditory categories develop in the brain through learning, particularly for nonspeech sounds, is not well understood. Here, we asked musically naïve listeners to complete a brief (∼20 min) training session where they learned to identify sounds from a nonspeech continuum (minor-major 3rd musical intervals). We used multichannel EEG to track behaviorally relevant neuroplastic changes in the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) pre- to post-training. To rule out mere exposure-induced changes, neural effects were evaluated against a control group of 14 nonmusicians who did not undergo training. We also compared individual categorization performance with structural volumetrics of bilateral primary auditory cortex (PAC) from MRI to evaluate neuroanatomical substrates of learning. Behavioral performance revealed steeper (i.e., more categorical) identification functions in the posttest that correlated with better training accuracy. At the neural level, improvement in learners’ behavioral identification was characterized by smaller P2 amplitudes at posttest, particularly over right hemisphere. Critically, learning-related changes in the ERPs were not observed in control listeners, ruling out mere exposure effects. Learners also showed smaller and thinner PAC bilaterally, indicating superior categorization was associated with structural differences in primary auditory brain regions. Collectively, our data suggest successful auditory categorical learning of nonspeech sounds is characterized by short-term functional changes (i.e., greater post-training efficiency) in sensory coding processes superimposed on preexisting structural differences in bilateral auditory cortex.