New 12-year international study finds musical training is good for brain development

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Researchers compared musicians and non-musicians at 5 different times from childhood to adulthood, and found differences in brain connections, better auditory perception, and better pattern recognition.

Transcript

00:00 Each individual was tested for 10 years, but the whole study lasted for 12 years.

00:07 And we did functional structural MRI, we did macneidoencephalography and auditory tests.

00:16 And we were interested in the impact of musical training, but also in the natural development

00:20 of the auditory system, because there have not been any studies for such a long time

00:27 period.

00:28 And basically, what we found is that the auditory system is not mature at birth, but it develops

00:37 throughout life, even into young adulthood.

00:39 So that was the first finding.

00:42 The second finding was, there has been a question, is there something like musical aptitude,

00:48 or is it just musical training?

00:50 And so we were also interested in structural characteristics of the brain.

00:56 And we found that there are really highly stable markers of musical aptitude, which

01:02 relate to the neuroanatomical structures, to certain structures.

01:07 But beyond that, we also found a high neuroplasticity, so the activation of those brain areas when

01:13 making music.

01:15 And so that all interacts with each other.

01:19 And that means that our brain is highly plastic to auditory learning.

01:24 I'd recommend that it's good for everybody to learn a musical instrument.

01:30 So not just for those who are musically gifted, let's put it like that, because we also have

01:35 data that, for instance, children with developmental disorders with learning deficits like ADHD,

01:41 like ADD, and dyslexia, really benefit from the musical training.

01:45 So their auditory perception improves, their attentional functions improve, which has positive

01:53 effects also on their learning skills.

01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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