The music theory lessons and the scales performed as a child would stimulate the brain and facilitate neuronal development. They would also have an impact throughout life and protect the cognitive health of seniors.
Mathematics, languages, physics, history … School timetables are increasingly seeing the disappearance of music. However, to better develop cognitive functions and protect your brain throughout your life, you should also know how to decipher scores and play a musical instrument, according to Canadian researchers.
Researchers at the University of Toronto (Canada) conducted an experiment with 20 people aged 55 to 75, half of whom had learned to play a musical instrument before the age of 14. The participants had to listen through headphones to sounds as simple as vowels and other more complicated sounds that required greater listening skills. Throughout the test, their brains were analyzed by an electroencephalograph.
The results of this study reveal that the more participants practiced music during childhood, the faster their brain responds to a series of sounds. “The brain reaction was two to three times faster in former musicians compared to their non-musician peers,” said Michael Weiss, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto (Canada), co-author of the study.
“Learning music theory and playing a musical instrument allows a more detailed, clean and precise representation of the sound signal, which explains why these people are more sensitive and better in auditory comprehension” affirms the researcher.
The benefits of music on the brain
This new study confirms the conclusions of Prof. Nina Kraus of Northwestern University (United States) who revealed in the journal Plos One that older people who took music lessons during their childhood are more alert and quick than those who do not. never practiced it. These conclusions were drawn even though people had stopped playing an instrument for a long time.
Music must be part of children’s environment from pregnancy onwards. Because, making the fetus listen to music would help it develop its brain and its memory, according to a Finnish study published on the Plos One website.
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