Recovery from Receptive Amusia Suggests Functional Reorganization of Music- Processing Networks

Abstract

Abstract: A follow-up study was performed in patients suffering from receptive amusia due to unilateral cerebrovascular cortical lesions. Perceptual musical functions had initially been assessed within the 5th and 10th day post-lesion and were re-evaluated 6-12 months after brain-damage. The standardized test battery covered local and global strategies of music perception in discrimination tasks. Retest sessions showed an overall improvement of music perception, reaching a significant group effect over all tasks. Marked improvement up to normal range was seen in four patients. These findings demonstrate the possibility of recovery from receptive amusia that can be assumed to be based on cerebral plasticity changes. Extremely mixed patterns of recovery support the hypothesis of a highly individual formation of music processing networks.