Music boost brainpower, IQ, creativity, focus and memory based on research
* Listening to certain kind of music help boost brainpower
* Playing and instrument especially spontaneous creative music activates the prefrontal cortex (seat of genius)
http://hubpages.com/hub/1-Secret-That-Many-Geniuses-Share
Science has proven that playing an instrument has multiple benefits to everyone - children, youth and adults.
Music boosts brain power
Laurel Trainor, director of the Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University in West Hamilton, Ontario says even a year or two of music training leads to enhanced levels of memory and attention when measured by the same type of tests that monitor electrical and magnetic impulses in the brain. We therefore hypothesize that musical training (but not necessarily passive listening to music) affects attention and memory, which provides a mechanism whereby musical training might lead to better learning across a number of domains," Trainor said.
Merely listening passively to music to Mozart — or any other composer — does not produce the same changes in attention and memory. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/06/music-lessons-boost-brain-power#ixzz1ME1MyC5Y
Music helps Dsylexia
The correlation between music training and language development is even more striking for dyslexic children. "[The findings] suggest that a music intervention that strengthens the basic auditory music perception skills of children with dyslexia may also remediate some of their language deficits." Schlaug said.
Merely listening passively to music to Mozart — or any other composer — does not produce the same changes in attention and memory. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/06/music-lessons-boost-brain-power#ixzz1ME1MyC5Y
Music helps Dsylexia
The correlation between music training and language development is even more striking for dyslexic children. "[The findings] suggest that a music intervention that strengthens the basic auditory music perception skills of children with dyslexia may also remediate some of their language deficits." Schlaug said.
Music 'Tones the Brain,' Improves Learning
Learning to play a musical instrument changes the brain, leading to a slew of potential benefits, including improved learning and understanding of language, according to a recent review article. Studies highlighted in the review suggest connections made between brain cells during musical training can aid in other forms of communication, such as speech, reading and understanding a foreign language. "The effect of music training suggests that, akin to physical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness," the researchers say. http://www.livescience.com/9964-music-tones-brain-improves-learning.html
Music makes you smarter
Regularly playing a musical instrument changes the anatomy and function of the brain and may be used in therapy to improve cognitive skills.
The areas of the brain used to process music are larger or more active in musicians than non-musicians. Even just starting to learn a musical instrument can changes the neurophysiology of the brain.
Lutz Jäncke, a member of Faculty of 1000 Medicine, proposes using music in neuropsychological therapy, for example to improve language skills, memory, or mood. The brain regions involved in music processing are also required for other tasks, such as memory or language skills. "If music has such a strong influence on brain plasticity," writes Jäncke, "this raises the question of whether this effect can be used to enhance cognitive performance." http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/fo1b-mmy102609.php
The areas of the brain used to process music are larger or more active in musicians than non-musicians. Even just starting to learn a musical instrument can changes the neurophysiology of the brain.
Lutz Jäncke, a member of Faculty of 1000 Medicine, proposes using music in neuropsychological therapy, for example to improve language skills, memory, or mood. The brain regions involved in music processing are also required for other tasks, such as memory or language skills. "If music has such a strong influence on brain plasticity," writes Jäncke, "this raises the question of whether this effect can be used to enhance cognitive performance." http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/fo1b-mmy102609.php
Making Music Boosts Brain's Language Skills
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100220-music-brains-language-stroke-dyslexia/ Most recently brain-imaging studies have shown that music activates many diverse parts of the brain, including an overlap in where the brain processes music and language. Language is a natural aspect to consider in looking at how music affects the brain, Patel said. Like music, language is "universal, there's a strong learning component, and it carries complex meanings."
Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Gottfried Schlaug stated at a press briefing that "The underdeveloped systems on the right side of the brain that respond to music became enhanced and changed structures,". Overall, Schlaug said, the experiments show that "music might be an alternative medium for engaging parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged."
Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois added that musical training, whatever the age, should be universally encouraged, since it can play a key role in education, clinical therapies, and even in protective measures for keeping the brain sharp as people age. "Plus," she said, "it's just inherently wonderful."
Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Gottfried Schlaug stated at a press briefing that "The underdeveloped systems on the right side of the brain that respond to music became enhanced and changed structures,". Overall, Schlaug said, the experiments show that "music might be an alternative medium for engaging parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged."
Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois added that musical training, whatever the age, should be universally encouraged, since it can play a key role in education, clinical therapies, and even in protective measures for keeping the brain sharp as people age. "Plus," she said, "it's just inherently wonderful."
Neuroscience of Music
Because the scientists were combining methodologies (PET and fMRI) they were able to obtain an impressively precise portrait of music in the brain. The first thing they discovered (using ligand-based PET) is that music triggers the release of dopamine in both the dorsal and ventral striatum. This isn’t particularly surprising: these regions have long been associated with the response to pleasurable stimuli. It doesn’t matter if we’re having sex or snorting cocaine or listening to Kanye: These things fill us with bliss because they tickle these cells. Happiness begins here. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/the-neuroscience-of-music
More than a feeling
Emotionally evocative, yes, but music goes much deeper. Over the past decade or so, studies have shown that music stimulates numerous regions of the brain all at once, including those responsible for emotion, memory, motor control, timing and language. While the lyrics of a song activate language centers, such as Broca’s area, other parts of the brain may connect the tune to a long-ago association — a first kiss or a road trip down the coast, perhaps.
“It’s like the brain is on fire when you’re listening to music,” says Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “In terms of brain imaging, studies have shown listening to music lights up, or activates, more of the brain than any other stimulus we know.”
Getting chills - Listening to music you find moving can change activity in brain areas associated with emotion and reward. One study found that blood flow increased in the midbrain and ventral striatum (left-hand images) and decreased in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala. - http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/61575/title/More__than_a_feeling
Music Changes Perception, Research Shows
Music is not only able to affect your mood -- listening to particularly happy or sad music can even change the way we perceive the world. Jolij and Meurs had their test subjects perform a task in which they had to identify happy and sad smileys while listening to happy or sad music. Music turned out to have a great influence on what the subjects saw: smileys that matched the music were identified much more accurately. And even when no smiley at all was shown, the subjects often thought they recognized a happy smiley when listening to happy music and a sad one when listening to sad music. . . . Our research results suggest that the brain builds up expectations not just on the basis of experience but on your mood as well.' - The University of Groningen. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110427101606.htm>
Listening To Music Can Change The Way You Judge Facial Emotions
The research found that the prior listening to happy music significantly enhanced the perceived happiness of a face and likewise listening to sad music significantly enhanced the perceived sadness of a face, and this music-induced effect was maximal when the face was emotionally neutral. Further, by recording brain waves, the study showed that prior listening to music could induce changes in the brain activation patterns which are usually not directly under our conscious control. "What surprises us," Bhattacharya said, "is that even as short as 15 sec of music can cause this effect. However more research is needed to find how long the effect lasts or if, and how, other factors such as musical preference, personality, control this effect."- Dr Joydeep Bhattacharya at Goldsmiths, University of London <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506152809.htm>
The arts create jobs, increase the local tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing, etc.) and improve the overall quality of life for our cities and towns. On a national level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations generate an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to the U.S. Treasury each year. American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996. http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html>
Less drug abuse
“It’s like the brain is on fire when you’re listening to music,” says Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “In terms of brain imaging, studies have shown listening to music lights up, or activates, more of the brain than any other stimulus we know.”
Getting chills - Listening to music you find moving can change activity in brain areas associated with emotion and reward. One study found that blood flow increased in the midbrain and ventral striatum (left-hand images) and decreased in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala. - http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/61575/title/More__than_a_feeling
Music Changes Perception, Research Shows
Music is not only able to affect your mood -- listening to particularly happy or sad music can even change the way we perceive the world. Jolij and Meurs had their test subjects perform a task in which they had to identify happy and sad smileys while listening to happy or sad music. Music turned out to have a great influence on what the subjects saw: smileys that matched the music were identified much more accurately. And even when no smiley at all was shown, the subjects often thought they recognized a happy smiley when listening to happy music and a sad one when listening to sad music. . . . Our research results suggest that the brain builds up expectations not just on the basis of experience but on your mood as well.' - The University of Groningen. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110427101606.htm>
Listening To Music Can Change The Way You Judge Facial Emotions
The research found that the prior listening to happy music significantly enhanced the perceived happiness of a face and likewise listening to sad music significantly enhanced the perceived sadness of a face, and this music-induced effect was maximal when the face was emotionally neutral. Further, by recording brain waves, the study showed that prior listening to music could induce changes in the brain activation patterns which are usually not directly under our conscious control. "What surprises us," Bhattacharya said, "is that even as short as 15 sec of music can cause this effect. However more research is needed to find how long the effect lasts or if, and how, other factors such as musical preference, personality, control this effect."- Dr Joydeep Bhattacharya at Goldsmiths, University of London <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090506152809.htm>
The arts create jobs, increase the local tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing, etc.) and improve the overall quality of life for our cities and towns. On a national level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations generate an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to the U.S. Treasury each year. American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996. http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html>
Less drug abuse
- Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998. http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html>
- The U.S. Department of Education lists the arts as subjects that college-bound middle and junior high school students should take, stating "Many colleges view participation in the arts and music as a valuable experience that broadens students' understanding and appreciation of the world around them. It is also well known and widely recognized that the arts contribute significantly to children's intellectual development." In addition, one year of Visual and Performing Arts is recommended for college-bound high school students. Getting Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997 <http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html>
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Books on the Importance of Music Education
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The Learning revolution
A lifelong learning program for the world's finest computer: your brain! This book provides simple techniques that will enable everyone to learn anything faster & more effectively! Offers simple yet effective techniques to take control of your future as a parent, student, teacher, administrator, business or government leader!
Music with the brain in mind
Although compelling evidence supports the value of the musical arts in school, many educators still fight for its inclusion. This timely resource translates the latest brain and music research and provides practical strategies for incorporating the musical arts at all levels.
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