Researchers have demonstrated that music training changes the brain. Although it can be expected that engagement in any prolonged and specialized activity will yield cortical changes, the impact of music on the brain seems to be unique. In this MTRB post we will review some recent studies on music exposure and cortical differences. Continue reading
In order to present both sides of the music training for speech and reading argument, I thought I’d comment on another study on this topic. Recent music neuroscience studies have shown that children who are engaged in music are changed by that engagement. For instance, children involved in music programs in school have been shown to have higher standardized test scores (Johnson & Memmot, 2006), children who practice and played piano have higher cortical responses to piano than non-musicians (Pantev et al. 1998), and children trained in music increase gray matter in areas of the motor cortex, auditory cortex, and corpus callosum (Hyde et al. 2009). Continue reading
When listening to music we often respond with movement of some sort. Some people will openly dance to what they hear, others will only slightly move their body, and some will tap their toe without realizing that they are moving. The ability to synchronize body movements to an external auditory stimulus has been widely explored in the literature. From this research we know that we can entrain (or synchronize) to a pulse without having to think about it (see Thaut, 2005 for in-depth review). But what about the infant? Do young children move their bodies to music? Continue reading
