Role Of Music On Brain Function

There are new roles for musical training,which include fostering brain plasticity, providing an alternative educational tool, and treating learning disabilities, researchers say.


Playing a musical instrument is a multisensory and motor experience that creates emotions and motions — from finger tapping to dancing — and engages pleasure and reward systems in the brain. It has the potential to change brain function and structure when done over a long period of time.

These new findings show that "intense musical training generates new processes within the brain, at different stages of life, and with a range of impacts on creativity, cognition, and learning.

Start Music Lessons Early

Musical training at a young age may strengthen the brain, especially regions that influence language skills and executive function.
A formal musical training for at least a year, beginning sometime between age 3 and 15 help to improve brain function in later part of life
The volume of brain regions related to hearing and self-awareness appeared to be larger in those who began taking music lessons before age 7. This hints that early musical training could potentially be used as a therapeutic tool.

"Early musical training does more good for kids than just making it easier for them to enjoy music; it changes their brain and these brain changes could lead to cognitive advances as well. Early music training could change the structure of the brain's cortex.

"There is a lot of research showing that musical training has various cognitive benefits, such as better working memory, pitch discrimination performance, and selective attention.
It might be possible that some specified musical training could be applied to education in the future.



Childhood music lessons have neural benefit decades later. Older adults who took music lessons as children but haven't actively played an instrument in decades have a faster brain response to a speech sound than individuals who never played an instrument.

Music Training Influences Multiple Senses

Musical training improves the ability of the nervous system to integrate information from multiple senses.


Hemce there are broader role for musical training in improving the ability of the nervous system to integrate information from all senses