Music and the Brain
We all are aware of the affects that listening to music can have on a person’s psyche. Studies have shown that certain genres of music can have a calming and relaxing affect on a person. The old adage "Music calms the savage beast…" may be more than just an old wives’ tale. On the other hand, we all have experienced that inappropriate music played at the wrong time can be distracting and at times almost unnerving. This concept indicates that music can have a powerful influence on our emotional being.
One study done by Dr. Laurel Trainor, Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and the Director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind revealed that Classical and Baroque music played at a moderate tempo (about 60 beats per minute) while students were learning a subject, had a significant increase in students’ memorization skills. The study also revealed that if the same music was played during a testing period, the students’ test scores were significantly higher. The same was true when listening to light Jazz music. Other research has revealed that Alzheimer patients who listen to music encounter a significant improvement in neural brain function.
Another topic of research that is particularly revealing is the affect that formal musical training can have on the human brain. Dr. Trainor concluded through clinical trials that early childhood musical training on children between the ages of four and six increased their ability to memorize information more easily. Psychologist Dr. Frances Rauscher of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh also conducted a similar study with a collaborating conclusion.Yet another clinical study conducted by Georgetown University suggests that music can influence the area of the brain responsible for ones’ attention span. It was found during clinical research that brain activity increased during pauses in a musical composition’s movement, thus developing the areas of anticipation neural clairvoyance. This is a major finding when it comes to learning during early childhood. Formal musical training for children has also been attributed to a positive affect on their social skill development. It was discovered through various studies that certain types of music can increase a person’s ability to sense emotion in music and sound, thus increasing one’s ability to recognize emotional cues in various social situations. Subsequently there may be an increase in a person’s emotional stability and an improvement in one’s skills when dealing with interpersonal relationships
Can music make you smarter? Some research indicates that this is true. It has been discovered that early musical training can improve ones’ reading and verbal skills. Formal musical training can sharpen the brain’s ability to process sight, sound, speech, and overall literacy in the human brain. Music has such vast and widespread affect on the brain that many clinical psychologists believe that pre-school musical training should be mandatory for all children. But let’s not limit the affect of musical training to merely children. Dr. Trainor and other experts have concluded that exercising the brain in the later years of life can be critical to overall mental health maintenance. People should be encouraged to take up new hobbies and read more as they get older in order to keep the brain from stagnating and decreasing in overall mental health. Formal musical training will not only engage the brain, but can also exercise a person’s hand-to-eye coordination. This may be therapeutic for stroke victims and a useful tool in physical rehabilitation in various situations. It may even prevent the onslaught of mental illness in later years. Some of Dr. Rauscher’s studies have also indicated that music can lead to an increase in one’s overall IQ, emotional awareness and emotional sensitivity for some people.
In conclusion, whenever you are looking for that next mental challenge or that new hobby to pursue, perhaps you should consider listening to or learning music. I have found in my personal experience that taking structured music lessons later in life can be both an enjoyable and therapeutic experience. We all are aware of that feeling of accomplishment when a new skill is learned. Playing music can provide that feeling even in the simplest of circumstances. On a personal level, I have also experienced the affect music can have on interpersonal relationships. Sharing the experience of music with your "significant other" can bring you both closer not only emotionally, but also intellectually. I only hope that everyone would take advantage of music and its ability to calm, engage, and heal the human mind.
Dr. Laurel Trainor has published over 60 pioneering research articles and book chapters on the neuroscience of auditory development and the perception of music, appearing in prestigious journals such as Science, Psychological Science, and the Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr. Frances Rauscher is an Endowed Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Although primarily interested in music cognition, other research interests include the role of hand gestures in speech production, and time perception. She has received the John McNaughton Rosebush award for excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service, as well as the Distinguished Teaching Award.
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teegee
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... How's that song go again? "I can wile away the hours, conversin' with the flowers..." Nice info dood! |
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