The brains of artists have more powerful structural and practical connections compared to those of non-musicians, no matter inherent pitch capability, according to brand-new research study from JNeurosci.
Years of musical training shape the brain in significant methods. A minority of artists — with Mozart and Michael Jackson in their ranks — likewise have outright pitch, the capability to recognize a tone without a recommendation. But, it stays uncertain how this capability affects the brain.
In the most significant sample to date, Leipold et al. compared the brains of expert artists, some with outright pitch and some without, to non-musicians. To the group’s surprise, there were no strong distinctions in between the brains of artists with and without outright pitch capability; rather outright pitch might form the brain in more subtle methods.
Compared to non-musicians, both kinds of artists had more powerful practical connection — the integrated activity of brain areas — in the acoustic areas of both brain hemispheres. Musicians likewise had more powerful white matter connections in between acoustic areas and lobes associated with different kinds of top-level processing. Musicians that started their training at a more youthful age had more powerful structural connections than artists with a later start.
These results show how experience forms the brain, particularly early in life, and how improved musical abilities are represented in our brain.
Reference: “Musical Expertise Shapes Functional and Structural Brains Networks Independent of Absolute Pitch Ability” 25 January 2021, Journal of Neuroscience.
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1985-20.2020