Singing and Its Neuronal Substrates: Evidence from the General Population

This article reviews a range of behavioural and neuroimaging studies with the goal of characterising proficient singing in the general population and identifying its neuronal underpinnings. Evidence is provided to suggest that the majority of individuals can carry a tune, and that a complex neural network engaging motor, auditory and sensorimotor integration areas supports this ability. These mechanisms can be disrupted by a brain insult or neurogenetic disorders leading to inaccurate singing. A variety of poor-singing patterns are described (e.g., with or without concurrent perceptual deficiencies). The study of these poor-singing phenotypes is useful in understanding the complex structure of the song system and its neuronal substrates.