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A recent study on music and the brain…mmm…brains…
A few years ago I took a course on brain development and ever since I have been fascinated by the topic. The brain it seems, is one of the final frontiers of medical science; while recent research has given scientists new insights into the brain, it mostly remains an ocean of uncharted waters.
Much ado has been made of the so-called “Mozart Effect”; that playing Mozart for your child can somehow make them smarter. While this effect has since been debunked (in hindsight, the notion that smarts may be gained by musical osmosis is a pretty silly concept) some studies do report that intensive music study indeed makes children smarter.
For many years I have also heard the idea that musicians make good mathematicians and programmers. One only needs to look at the career of Boston Symphony hornist Charles Kavalovski as an example and seriously wonder if this idea has merit. For myself, I find many correlations between by web development projects and my musical creativity.
A recent study released from the Dana Foundation attempts to answer this question; does music study make people smarter or does the profession attract smarter people?
[Update: the link below has been fixed.]
“Learning, Arts, and the Brain,” a three-year study, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. While the study is not conclusive, it does strongly indicate that music training helps to develope certain cognitive skills in children.
[Snagged from Adaptistration.com]
Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga, who lead the consortium that issued this report, remarks that concentrated music training is strongly linked to children’s skills in geometric reasoning. This skill, which is essential for architects, engineers, astronomers and others, is one of three basic systems that underlie ability in mathematics.
Additionally:
- a strong connection was found between music training and reading acquisition
- music training benefits short and long term memory
- the arts may be a way to strengthen abilities to focus attention that benefit learning in general
The full report is an informative read. Please see:
Photo credit: adapted from flickr.com/photos/felix42/453311029/sizes/m/
