Musician brain: Differences between professional women musicians and non-musician women on perceiving music: An fMRI study

It is observed that interdisciplinary studies on music focuses on different points. The research subject becoming prominent is music perception. Professional and non-professional groups were examined on these studies over this subject; researches where two groups were compared both by performance and by passive listening were carried out. In this thesis study which was joined by musical and medical researchers collectively, passive music listening were applied to attendants and differences between professional women musicians and non-musician women on music perception were examined. Attendants consisted of five women pianists and five non-musician women. Both groups listened two music compositions (Western Art Mucis and Turkish Pop) while they were being monitored by fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and traceability of their reactions in their brains over music were investigated. Information regarding how they perceive music were collected by questioning attendants about musical education, cultural background, musical preferences, what music meant to them, what they focused on during imaging through interviews made before and after fMRI.Hypothesis of the study is hearing parts of musically educated people?s brains are more developed compared to non-educated and their professional talents are effective on music perception.