Longitudinal Dynamic fMRI Analysis of Music vs Singing Perception in Preterm Infants

Motivation: Instrumental music and singing differ due to the vocal component of the sung melody and present distinct neural processing pathways, though its developmental origins remain unclear. Goal(s): This study explores the early development of music vs singing brain processing. Approach: Dynamic PPI-CAPs approach was applied to longitudinal fMRI data of preterm infants at 33- and 40-weeks gestational age. Results: Singing elicited a stronger activation of salience and language-related networks, while music elicited limbic networks. Default-mode network and right temporal gyrus were elicited for both stimuli longitudinally. Visual network is also involved for both stimuli but only at term-equivalent age. Impact: This study explores the longitudinal early development of neural processing networks in the context of instrumental and vocal music stimuli and shows that preterm infants already present a specialized processing for these different stimuli.