language and music is open to new exploration and,potentially,new
surprises.Neuroanatomical Substrates of Music
Although all normal people are competent in at least one language,not
everybody is a proficient musician.Investigations pertaining to neuro-
logical processing of music are therefore complicated by the fact that
some focus on musically trained subjects whereas others deliberately
select subjects that are musically naive (i.e.,“normal”).Despite the fact
that differences between the groups can be illuminating,studies of musi-
cians are particularly relevant for questions pertaining to the specific
components of perceiving and producing music.For example,a PET
study of ten professional pianists as they sight-read a little-known Bach
partita on a keyboard with their right hands (Sergent et al.1992) is par-
ticularly interesting in light of the above discussion about the neurolog-
ical substrates of language.Listening to,reading,or playing the partita
each recruited specific cortical areas.
Each of the ten musicians initially listened to and then played ascend-
ing and descending scales on the keyboard with their right hands (i.e.,
left hemispheres).Merely listening to scales activated area 42 in both
hemispheres and area 22 on the left (indicated by stars in figure 13.1),a
situation similar to that for subjects who listen to isolated words,and one
that engages some of the same cortex (cross-hatched part of 22).When
subjects played the scales themselves,the right cerebellum (star) that
connects with the left frontal lobe became activated.As noted,the neo-
cerebellum (especially on the right) is also engaged during thoughtful
speech. Furthermore,an fMRI study (Khorram-Sefat, Dierks, and
Hacker 1996) revealed that the neocerebellum is activated as individu-
als listen to music,an entirely nonmotor activity.In addition,playing
scales stimulated portions of the left premotor cortex (stars in area 6)
that,again,appear to overlap with language areas;that is,the left pre-
motor cortex involved in writing with the right hand (Xs).Clearly,the
perception and manual production of simple scales share some neuro-
logical substrates with the perception and manual production of simple
words (Sergent et al.1992).
Things get more interesting when it comes to the musical piece itself.
When a musical score is simply read without listening or playing,the acti-
vated area of the brain is not 39 on the left as is the case when words
are read,but rather part of visual area 19 (star) on the left (in addition
to visual area 18 bilaterally),which is important for spatial processing,
interpreting where rather than what a visual stimulus is.This makes sense
because pianists read notes not as isolated items but in terms of their201 Hominid Brain Evolution and the Origins of Music