Cognition Development and Music Training - Essay Example

Cognition Development and Music Training Introduction The brain is the most complex organ of the human body the study of which has spurred several scientific inquiries bent in unfolding its mysteries. What is so amazing about the human brain, or alternatively, of the human mind? Biology will tell the inquisitive student that the brain is composed of billions of neurons relaying electric impulses and forming segments in the brain. Although the biological approach has many uses, it would be incomplete if used for analyzing the brain without delving into the information processes that occurs in the human mind. This is the focus of cognitive psychology – to study the mental activity as an information processing problem. Mind processes are considered as a set of mental operations that involve multiple operations (computations and manipulations) to come up with multiple representations of stimuli which are a function by experiences and stored memory. Nevertheless, I must stress out that the mind cannot be treated separately with the biological approach because mental processes have its corresponding physical and anatomical processes as well. Knowing the complexity of the brain and the cognition processes and the distinction of stimuli experienced by every mind, it becomes interesting to find a particular commonality (if it does exist) and be able to appreciate it more fully. This paper will be focused on understanding and analyzing how training could generate differences between the trained and the untrained. It becomes necessary then to identify a field wherein we can relate to and quite familiar to all of us. This leads us to choose the training in music that professional musicians get as the centre of discussion. Most of us would acknowledge that musicians have become so because they possess certain talents but there are studies that would corroborate the idea that brain functions and transformations occur when the mind is continuously trained. Some of these studies are integrated here so that we can gain a better picture of the inquiry and to endow our discussion with a degree of credibility. The Soundness of the Brain When a baby is born, his sight is yet oblivious to his surroundings and will only gain perception after a few weeks or so. His world is bounded by the sense of touch and better yet, by the sounds that his surroundings would offer. Perhaps a good example of how sounds contribute to the human brain is the teaching of verbal language to the young ones. The words they utter such as ‘Mama’ or ‘Dada’ results from the insistent and persistent training of the parents who illustrate by speaking to the baby in an instructional technique. Consider for example the study of Weber et al (as cited in Overy, 2000) which employed elementary school students from 50 Swiss educational institutions. There was an experimental curriculum in which language and math subjects were augmented with musical instruction. The finding was that those who availed of such an instruction performed better in language and reading than those who took the standard courses. Another interesting study is that of Gardiner et al (1996) who found out that those 1st grade students who availed of a program which replaced standard methods of instructions with musical teaching registered better performances in math and the languages. Indeed, the association between sounds and learning have been the interest of many studies some of which have been specialized as more scientific tools are becoming available. Consider for instance the study published in the Society of Neuroscience conducted by Lahav and Schlaug (2007) of Harvard Medical School. What they did was to teach nine randomly selected people (from a pool of candidates who have met certain criterions such as having no musical training) and teach them a five note, 24 second song. They then let the subjects listen to three different songs – the one they taught, another one with the same five notes but different arrangement and another one with additional notes. By using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), they were bale to come with an image that shows that when they hear the song they were taught there was significant activity on the frontal and parietal lobe. This part of the brain is associated with motor movements which leads the author to speculate that the human mind may have developed neuron systems which allows us to understand actions even when they cannot be observed but can only be heard such as when we hear the rustling of leaves. What is important to recognize is that these studies serve as proof that there is indeed a connection between the brain and musical training. Professional Training in Music After having illustrated the connection between brain development and sounds, we are now prepared to consider a much more complex topic and that is the inquiry into whether professional musicians have developed cognition abilities different than those who haven’t received musical training at all. I caution the reader, however, that this discussion does not presuppose that there is indeed some form of connection as what our previous discussion would tell us. Studies conducted to determine the differences in the brains of professional musicians compared to non musicians are increasing primarily because of the interest on understanding the brain regions responsible for this and being able to take advantage of that knowledge to improve the learning process. Formerly, we hear people say that music has a soothing effect for some allowing them to comprehend more fully. Some say that one technique to memorize something is to endow it with a rhythm. Professional musicians are those who continuously receive or conduct musical instruction with the aim of improving their skills and increasing their worth. Investigations on the brain of these people using brain imaging have resulted to answers that confirm many hypotheses. The basic question is whether the brain develops some form of specialization as it continuously receives training. Consider for example the study conducted by Schlaug, Winner and Norton (2005). According to brain imaging results, the musician’s brain have larger than average corpus callosum which is a fibre bundle connecting the left and right hemisphere of the brain. The idea is that musical training enhances the communication between these two hemispheres resulting to better cognition and coordination. These authors were also able to confirm that musicians have also larger than average brain regions known for movement planning, movement execution and hearing. However, the study also recognizes the question which still endows a degree of uncertainty to all brain studies and that is whether brain differences are the result of training alone or is it the result of genetic formations which predispose the individual to the music. If we assume that it may be a combination of such, then we are facing another complex problem and that is how to confirm it. Nonetheless, some studies are inclining us to agree that training does have some effect on the brain. Furthermore, almost all those inclined to music receives training and instruction. Professional musicians are trained to read the notes as they are and to transfer that perception into movements that will result to the music itself. These visual perception and movement transfer of that perception has been studied and cited as the one of the major reasons why we should think that musicians who are trained have better cognition as opposed to those who are only genetically predisposed. McPherson et al. (1997) have pointed out that this sight reading ability is one of the major traits that a musician should have so that he can perform a repertoire of music. Sight reading involves rapid visuospatial analysis of symbolic input that is translated into motor sequences. The idea is that this rapid recognition enhances the cognitive ability of the musician especially in what they see. Studies conducted by Sergent et al (1992), Parsons et.al. (2005) and Bengtsson and Ullen (2006) have concluded that there was a significant increase of brain matter in the region established to control visuospatial analysis and sequencing or motor action. This region is known as the Broca’s area. Sluming et al (2007) conducted a study confirming whether there was a transferable benefit of musical training to music professionals using verbal ability test, 2D perception test and Three Dimensional Rotation (3DMR). Why use these dimensional techniques? Our discussion with the sight reading indicates that training in such an endeavour could result to better cognition. By comparing the performances of non-music and music professionals in 2D and 3D perception, then it can be concluded that training does improve the brain’s cognition abilities. In other words, it is a means of confirming what other researchers have hypothesized before. The results showed that the variable and the control group performance in verbal skills did not vary and that brain imaging showed no difference in activity of Broca’s area either. However, when it came to the visuospatial results, there were significance differences, both behaviourally and neurofunctionally with the musician/variable group performing better. Another study conducted by Hutchison et al (2003) focused on determining whether music training could result to an increase in brain volume of the individual. The segment of the brain in focus is the cerebellum which is very much involved in motor learning and cognitive function. I have mentioned before that these studies are endowed with uncertainty because of training-genetically formed division. This study aimed at confirming that the brain structural differences found in musicians are more the result of adaptation to the rigors of musical training, perhaps at a critical period of brain development, rather than the innate properties of a group of individuals who self-select themselves at an early age to become musicians. Brain imaging and analysis showed that there was structural and functional differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians and that these differences positively correlate with early commencement of musical training. Another research conducted by Grogan (2001) has revealed significant differences in the gray matter distribution between professional musicians trained at an early age and non-musicians. The musicians in the study had more relative gray matter volume in left and right primary sensorimotor regions, the left more than the right intraparietal sulcus region, the left basal ganglia region and the left posterior perisylvian region, with pronounced differences also seen in the cerebellum bilaterally. Conclusion From the foregoing discussion, I come to a conclusion that brains of musicians work differently than non-musicians in the sense that they have enhanced visuospatial capabilities and motor functions. Based on several studies the difference depends on their training and exposure on the music. Training results to structural differences especially in the Broca’s area and the Cerebellum. Does it mean then that they think differently? I would say that it would be more appropriate for us to say that they recognize more efficiently as a result of musical training. This realization could have several good implications as it could lead to better instructional methods and better understanding of the human mind. After all, it is only by knowing how our minds work can we truly use its full potential. By employing methods to improve this, we may very well have much more scientific discoveries and the like. The faculty of the mind will be our tool for further improvements. Reference: Bengtsson SL, Ullen F (2006) Dissociation between melodic and rhythmic processing during piano performance from musical scores. NeuroImage 30:272–284. Gardiner, M. F., Fox, A., Knowles, F., & Jeffrey, D. (1996). Learning improved by arts training. Nature, 381, 284. Hutchinson, S., Hui-Lin Lee, L. Gaab, N. and Schlaug, G. (2003). Cerebellar Volume of Musicians. Cerebral Cortex; Sep 2003; 13-9; ProQuest Psychology Journals pg. 943 McPherson GE, Bailey M, Sinclair KE (1997) Path analysis of a theoretical model to describe the relationship among five types of musical performance. J Res Music Educ 45:103–129. Overy, K. (2000). Dyslexia, temporal processing and music: The potential for music as an early learning aid for dyslexic children. Psychology of Music, 28, 218- 229. Parsons LM, Sergent J, Hodges D, Fox P (2005) The brain basis of piano performance. Neuropsychologia 43:199 –215. Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., Staiger, J. F., & Steinmetz, H. (1995). Increased corpus callosum size in musicians. Neuropsychologia, 33, 1047-1055. Sergent J, Zuck E, Terriah S, MacDonald B (1992) Distributed neural network underlying musical sight-reading and keyboard performance. Science 257:106 –109. Sluming, V., Brooks J., Howard, M. Downes, J. and Roberts, N. (2007). Broca’s Area Supports Enhanced Visuospatial Cognition in Orchestral Musicians. The Journal of Neuroscience; April 24, 2007. 27(14):3799-3806. Read More