Project Title: 

The Relation Between Bimanual Coordination and Interhemispheric Communication in Musicians

Funding detail: 
NEA Research Grant
Institution: 
University of Southern California
Principal Investigator: 
Beth Fisher
Start year: 
2017
End year: 
2019
Project summary: 

To support a study comparing hand coordination and inter-brain communication skills in musicians. The study will comprise three distinct groups: non-musicians; musicians with symmetrical hand use (e.g., piano-players); and musicians with asymmetrical hand use (e.g., string-players). Researchers will conduct several task assessments among these groups to understand the relationship between bimanual coordination and inter-hemispheric inhibition-a cortical mechanism underlying most forms of motor control. The study asks whether the functional inter-hemispheric interactions and bimanual motor coordination acquired by musicians who have trained intensively with a musical instrument can generalize to other bimanual skills.