The brains of children who play a musical instrument develop more slowly, and therefore for longer, with a larger window of learning.
- Dutch psychologist Lina van Drunen and her team examined the influence of a musical environment on the brain development of 500 pairs of twins aged 7 to 14.
- The researchers found that “playing music slows brain development,” which, contrary to popular belief, is a good thing: young musicians’ brains develop “longer” and “their learning window is wider.”
- Other studies have shown that playing an instrument helps “reduce stress, better regulate emotions or even boost social interactions because you play with others.”
“The effects on the brain of a disadvantaged environment, such as growing up with stressors, have been widely studied. But there is little investigation of the effects of cognitively enriching environments, such as music.”
To address this shortcoming, psychology doctoral student Lina van Drunen and her team at theLeiden University (Netherlands) examined the influence of a musical environment on the brain development of 500 pairs of twins aged 7 to 14 years.
Young musicians’ brains develop more slowly but for longer
Over the course of six years, the children underwent three MRI scans and completed various cognitive and behavioral tasks, as well as a sensorimotor gating (SMG) task to measure musicality. This involved assessing how well participants could move their fingers in time with a metronome and music.
“We observed that certain regions of the brain developed more slowly in young people who were good at this last task and practiced a musical instrument than in other young people who were less musically gifted.”explains Lina van Drunen in a communicated. This is the sign, according to her, that “music practice slows down brain development”, which, contrary to what one might think, “presents unique opportunities”. In other words, it’s a stroke of luck!
The researchers’ hypothesis is that the brains of young musicians are actually developing “Longer” and “their learning window is therefore wider”. An effect that has already been observed. “among young amateurs who occasionally play music”. The fact that a musical environment is enriching for brain development is also consistent with studies that have shown that playing an instrument helps to “reduce stress, better regulate your emotions or even boost your social interactions because you play with others”.
The brain adapts to survive as best it can in its environment
For comparison, Lina van Drunen also studied the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic – a stressful environment – on the brain development of these same 500 pairs of twins. And found the opposite, namely “the accelerated development of certain regions of the brain, particularly those associated with social interactions and stress regulation.”
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, tempers the psychologist. Our brains seem to adapt to best survive in the environment we grow up in. The coronavirus pandemic has forced young people to mature faster in some regions [et] to find ways to maintain social connections, which is a sign of resilience.”
