Figure 3. Higher activations in musicians vs. nonmusicians during the musical familiarity task.

Areas of significantly stronger activation in musicians, compared with nonmusicians, during the musical familiarity task (see also Table 2). The bilateral anterior portion of the hippocampus (extending to the entorhinal cortex on the left and into the parahippocampus on the right), the bilateral calcarine (extending to the occipital and lingual gyri) and orbitomedial frontal gyri, the middle cingulate cortex and the bilateral superior temporal areas, including Heschl's gyri, were associated with increased familiarity for the musicians. Contrasts are displayed at p< 0.001 (uncorrected) and superimposed onto the average of normalized brains using MRIcron software. Abbreviations: L = left hemisphere, R = right hemisphere.