page_title: Neuroscience of music
section_title: Musician vs. non-musician processing
hierarchical_section_title: Neuroscience of music / Musician vs. non-musician processing
caption_attribution_description: English: A player piano in action performing a piano roll. Français&#160;: Un piano mécanique en action.
context_page_description: The neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing, reading, writing, and ancillary activities. It also is increasingly concerned with the brain basis for musical aesthetics and musical emotion. Scientists working in this field may have training in cognitive neuroscience, neurology, neuroanatomy, psychology, music theory, computer science, and other relevant fields.
  The cognitive neuroscience of music represents a significant branch of music psychology, and is distinguished from related fields such as cognitive musicology in its reliance on direct observations of the brain and use of brain imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography.
caption: Professional pianists show less cortical activation for complex finger movement tasks due to structural differences in the brain.
exif: {}