Using Music For A Brain Boost

Carl Lowe | Feb 13, 2013 | Comments 4

Both Sherlock Holmes and Albert Einstein knew that playing a musical instrument helps your brain function. That’s why they both de-stressed by playing the violin. And now Canadian researchers at Concordia University and McGill in Montreal have identified what they say is the optimal time to start taking music lessons for better brain health.

Their study provides strong evidence that the years between ages 6 and 8 are a “sensitive period” when musical training interacts with normal brain development to produce long-lasting benefits in motor abilities and brain structure.

“Learning to play an instrument requires coordination between hands and with visual or auditory stimuli,” says researcher Virgina Penhune. “Practicing an instrument before age 7 likely boosts the normal maturation of connections between motor and sensory regions of the brain, creating a framework upon which ongoing training can build.”

The scientists tested 36 adult musicians on a movement task and scanned their brains. Half of these musicians began musical training before age 7, while the other half began at a later age; but the two groups had the same number of years of musical training and experience. These two groups were also compared with individuals who had received little or no formal musical training.

When comparing a motor skill between the two groups, musicians who began before age 7 showed more accurate timing, even after two days of practice. When comparing brain structure, musicians who started early showed enhanced white matter in the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the left and right motor regions of the brain. Importantly, the researchers found that the younger a musician started, the greater the connectivity.

“This study is significant in showing that training is more effective at early ages because certain aspects of brain anatomy are more sensitive to changes at those time points,” says study co-author Robert J. Zatorre.