A review published last month by researchers at Northwestern University shows that musical training increases learning in virtually all areas, including speech, memory, language, attention and even emotions.
The review, published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, was done based on data from studies conducted all over the world, using a wide range of research methods. The results show that music and musical training has a significant effect on the human nervous system, as it triggers neural connections that ready the brain for various other aspects of learning and communication.
The researchers found that music training increases the brains neuroplasticity – its ability to change and adapt to its environment through learning over the course of a lifetime. According to the study, music enhances the nervous system’s ability to develop meaningful patterns that are vital to learning.
According to lead author Nina Kraus, there has been a massive increase in research into the effects of music training on the nervous system in recent years. Kraus reportedly commented that this research has deep implications for education, as the results show that playing a musical instrument trains the brain to better process sensory information.
The study shows that musicians are more able to incorporate new sound patterns into words, which makes people with musical training better at learning new languages, and children who have learned music read at higher levels and with a richer vocabulary than children of the same age who have not been exposed to musical training. Musical training can also help neutralise the effects of learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
For further details, see:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100720152252.htm