Brain Region Important for Musical Ability

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A part of the brain involved in processing sounds is larger and more active in professional musicians than in non-musicians, researchers in Germany report.

Whether the musically inclined are born with these differences or develop them during childhood is uncertain, but the research may have implications for music education, according to the study's lead author.

Dr. Peter Schneider of the University of Heidelberg and colleagues measured the brain activity of 12 professional musicians, 13 amateur musicians and 12 non-musicians as they listened to simple tones. They found a "strong relation" between musical ability and a part of the brain called the Heschl's gyrus, which is involved in processing sound, Schneider told Reuters Health.

"In this area of the brain, professional musicians showed a much...larger volume of gray matter and also stronger activation during the exposure to simple tones as compared to non-musicians," he said.

Amateur musicians had more gray matter than non-musicians in just one section of the Heschl's gyrus, the researchers report in the June 17 advance online publication of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

According to Schneider, the work supports the notion that genetic influences or exposure to music during early childhood may have a larger impact on a person's musical abilities than music education later in childhood. He explained that previous research has shown that a child's aptitude for music stops developing after about age 9. So if a child's musical abilities are in place by age 9, later music education "might only help to reach the potential (with) which one is born or has been developed in childhood," Schneider said.

Scientists still do not know whether the brain differences between musicians and non-musicians are genetic or are a result of exposure to music early in life. Still, based on what is known about musical abilities in children, Schneider said that the study suggests "early and frequent exposure to music or singing would be important in early childhood up to age 9, where the potential of musical ability is still in a developmental stage."

This may mean that the best time to learn a musical instrument would be after age 9, once a child's musical aptitude is determined, according to the German researcher.

----------------------------

SOURCE: Nature Neuroscience 2002;10.1038/nn871.