A new study by researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland concludes that people who practice playing musical instruments have sharper brains because they pick up mistakes in their performance and fix them more quickly than other people.
Writing about their work in a recent issue of the journal Neuropsychologia, psychologist Doctor Ines Jentzsch and colleagues suggest playing music may help guard against mental decline, either through age or disease.
The findings reinforce previous research that links mental ability to playing music.
Dr. Jentzsch, who is a Reader in St. Andrews’ School of Psychology and Neuroscience and a keen pianist herself, says:
“Our study shows that even moderate levels of musical activity can benefit brain functioning.”
Mental performance of musicians during tasks
For their study, the researchers compared the mental performance of musicians versus non-musicians as they challenged them to complete simple conflict tasks.
There were 36 young adult participants in total, divided into four groups of 8 to 10, according to the number of accumulated hours of practicing a musical instrument over their lifetime (from “high,” over 5,000 hours, through “intermediate,” 2,000 to 5,000 hours and “low,” between 200 and 2,000 hours, to “no,” under 200 hours).
Further reading: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266809.php
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