Figure 6.

Patterns of functional connectivity between the 5 mm spherical ROI (green pins) in the right anterior insular cortex and the singing network of singers (left side) and nonsingers (right side). A, Normal singing. B, Singing with anesthetized vocal-fold mucosa. Both conditions showed the expected connectivity pattern within the singing network. C, T test statistics were performed to detect changes in connectivity between right AIC and an a priory defined ROI (green outline; primary somatosensory, motor, and auditory cortex) as a function of condition. A reversed connectivity pattern emerged in both groups at lower threshold. In singers, connectivity decreased after anesthesia while it increased in nonsingers, suggesting a role of the AIC as a hub for gating sensorimotor integration in singing based on experience. Activation maps were superimposed using the cortex_20484.surf template in SPM8.