MORE EVIDENCE THAT MUSICAL TRAINING PROTECTS THE BRAIN
Scientists have found some
of the strongest evidence yet that musical training in younger years can prevent
the decay in speech listening skills in later life.
The findings are
published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Among the different
cognitive functions that can diminish with age is the ability to comprehend
speech. Interestingly, this difficulty can persist in the absence of any
measurable hearing loss. Previous research has confirmed that the brain's
central auditory system which supports the ability to parse, sequence and
identify acoustic features of speech -- weakens in later years.
Starting formal
lessons on a musical instrument prior to age 14 and continuing intense training
for up to a decade appears to enhance key areas in the brain that support
speech recognition. The Rotman study found "robust" evidence that
this brain benefit is maintained even in the older population.
"Musical
activities are an engaging form of cognitive brain training and we are now seeing
robust evidence of brain plasticity from musical training not just in younger
brains, but in older brains too," said Gavin Bidelman, who led the study
as a post-doctoral fellow at the RRI and is now an assistant professor at the
University of Memphis.
"In our study we
were able to predict how well older people classify or identify speech using
EEG imaging. We saw a brain-behaviour response that was two to three times
better in the older musicians compared to non-musicians peers. In other words,
old musicians' brains provide a much more detailed, clean and accurate
depiction of the speech signal, which is likely why they are much more
sensitive and better at understanding speech."
Bidelman received a
GRAMMY Foundation research grant to conduct the study and partnered with senior
scientist Claude Alain, assistant director of Baycrest's RRI and a leading
authority in the study of age-related differences in auditory cortical
activity.
The latest findings
add to mounting evidence that musical training not only gives young developing
brains a cognitive boost, but those neural enhancements extend across the
lifespan into old age when the brain needs it most to counteract cognitive
decline. The findings also underscore the importance of music instruction in
schools and in rehabilitative programs for older adults.
In this study, 20
healthy older adults (aged 55-75) -- 10 musicians and 10 non-musicians -- put
on headphones in a controlled lab setting and were asked to identify random
speech sounds. Some of the sounds were single vowel sounds such as an
"ooo" or an "ahhh," others more ambiguous as a mix of two
sounds that posed a greater challenge to their auditory processing abilities
for categorizing the speech sound correctly.
During the testing
cycles, researchers recorded the neural activity of each participant using
electroencephalography (EEG). This brain imaging technique measures to a very
precise degree the exact timing of the electrical activity which occurs in the
brain in response to external stimuli. This is displayed as waveforms on a
computer screen. Researchers use this technology to study how the brain makes
sense of our complex acoustical environment and how aging impacts cognitive
functions.
According to Bidelman
and Alain's published paper, the older musicians' brain responses showed
"more efficient and robust neurophysiological processing of speech at
multiple tiers of auditory processing, paralleling enhancements reported in
younger musicians."
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