Abnormal topological organization of the white matter network in Mandarin speakers with congenital amusia.

ABSTRACT: Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder that mainly affects the processing of musical pitch. Brain imaging evidence indicates that it is associated with abnormal structural and functional connections in the fronto-temporal region. However, a holistic understanding of the anatomical topology underlying amusia is still lacking. Here, we used probabilistic diffusion tensor imaging tractography and graph theory to examine whole brain white matter structural connectivity in 31 Mandarin-speaking amusics and 24 age- and IQ-matched controls. Amusics showed significantly reduced global connectivity, as indicated by the abnormally decreased clustering coefficient (Cp) and increased normalized shortest path length (λ) compared to the controls. Moreover, amusics exhibited enhanced nodal strength

SUBMITTER: Zhao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876438 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature