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 Musicians
Brains Are Bigger
Genetic clues to musical ability? Mozart 'can cut epilepsy'
Years of music practice have changed the brains of professional
musicians. Different parts of the brain play different roles. Brain scanning has
revealed how years of music practice have changed the brains of professional
musicians.
Research announced to the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in
Philadelphia revealed how musicians have more "gray matter" - or brain
cells, in certain key regions.
While it is not certain that these differences developed as a result of their
musicianship rather than the other way around, it is a strong possibility that
the musicians have reshaped their minds over the years.
Professor Gottfried Schlaug, a German expert, looked at 15
professional male musicians, and 15 non-musicians. He used an magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) scanner to chart the various regions of their brains. The findings
were clear-cut - the musicians had more gray matter in at least four regions of
the brain.
These are regions which are sometimes associated with skills useful to musicians
- for example, the ability to coordinate movements in response to visual cues,
or process auditory cues.
Reshaping the brain
Professor Schlaug said: "Additional study is necessary to confirm causal
relationships between intense motor training for a long period of time and
structural changes in motor and non-motor
related brain regions.
"An alternative explanation may be that these musicians were born with
these differences, which may draw them towards their musical gifts."
There have been other findings which suggest that the brain can be reshaped in
response to repetitive tasks.
Taxi clue
Taxi drivers given brain scans by scientists at University College London had a
larger hippocampus compared with other people.
This is a part of the brain associated with navigation in birds and animals. The
scientists also found part of the hippocampus grew larger as the taxi drivers
spent more time in the job.
Dr Eleanor Maguire, who led that research team, told BBC News Online that it
would be difficult to prove that the brain changes were due to musical practice.
She said: "In the last two years, there has been a fair bit of research in
rats and primates looking at neuro genesis - where the new neurons are produced
- and that has found that the hippocampus in particular has something to do with
learning.
"Whether these changes can take place in the other areas of the cortex,
which this study talks about, is just not known at the moment."
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