The language network does not support music perception across a range of music experience
- 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Music and language share many similarities, yet music does not elicit a response in the language brain areas in adults with typical amounts of music experience, and patients with aphasia show preserved music ability. However, this dissociation might not generalize across development or expertise: it may not yet be present in children, who have limited experience with language and music, or it may be diminished in musicians with extensive music training. To evaluate these possibilities, we here used a precision fMRI approach to examine the responses in the language areas of children (aged 4-16 years, n=80) and adult musicians (n=10) to music. We found that the results obtained previously for non-musician adults replicate in two new control samples and, critically, generalize to both of the newly tested populations: the language areas are already selective for language relative to music in young children, showing no age-related change from early to late childhood, and remain selective despite extensive music training in highly experienced musicians. Thus, it appears that the amount of music exposure and practice have little effect on how the language brain areas respond to music.
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BibTeX
@misc{olson2026language,
title = {{The language network does not support music perception across a range of music experience}},
author = {H. A. Olson and X. J. Chen and D. Boebinger and H. Richardson and E. Fedorenko},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.03.749155},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.749155v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The language network does not support music perception across a range of music experience
AU - H. A. Olson
AU - X. J. Chen
AU - D. Boebinger
AU - H. Richardson
AU - E. Fedorenko
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.03.749155
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.749155v1
AB - Music and language share many similarities, yet music does not elicit a response in the language brain areas in adults with typical amounts of music experience, and patients with aphasia show preserved music ability. However, this dissociation might not generalize across development or expertise: it may not yet be present in children, who have limited experience with language and music, or it may be diminished in musicians with extensive music training. To evaluate these possibilities, we here used a precision fMRI approach to examine the responses in the language areas of children (aged 4-16 years, n=80) and adult musicians (n=10) to music. We found that the results obtained previously for non-musician adults replicate in two new control samples and, critically, generalize to both of the newly tested populations: the language areas are already selective for language relative to music in young children, showing no age-related change from early to late childhood, and remain selective despite extensive music training in highly experienced musicians. Thus, it appears that the amount of music exposure and practice have little effect on how the language brain areas respond to music.
ER -