Reading sheet music facilitates sensorimotor mu-desynchronization in musicians.

OBJECTIVE Recent brain imaging studies have demonstrated that the human mirror system, in addition to becoming active while viewing the actions of others, also responds to abstract visual and auditory stimuli associated with specific actions. Here, we test the hypothesis that when musicians read sheet music an associated motor act is automatically recruited in the same way as when we observe the actions of others. METHODS Using EEG, we measured event related desynchronization of the sensorimotor mu rhythm (mu-ERD) while musicians and non-musicians listened to music, observed movies of a musical instrument being played and observed a static image of the corresponding sheet music. RESULTS Musicians showed significantly greater mu-ERD than non-musicians when observing sheet music and musical performances. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that the human motor system aids in the process of perception and understanding by forming functional links between arbitrary, abstract percepts and associated acts. SIGNIFICANCE This research uniquely adds to the existing body of literature by demonstrating that abstract images are capable of triggering an "action understanding" system when viewed by experts who have formed the appropriate visual-motor association.