Research has revealed structural and functional differences in the brains of adult instrumental musicians compared to those of non-musician controls. It is not yet known whether these differences are inborn, develop as a result of long-term stimulation/training during critical periods of brain development, or can be attributed to a combination of the two. Research has also demonstrated that music training in children results in long-term enhancement of visual-spatial, verbal, and mathematical performance. However, the underlying neural basis of such enhancements, and whether or not learning and practicing a musical instrument can induce these enhancements, is yet unknown. In the fall of 2002, a pilot longitudinal study funded by the National Science Foundation began to compare children who were about to start instrumental music training with those who were not. At baseline, the groups showed no significant differences in morphometric and functional brain parameters or in results of motor, auditory, and cognitive tests. However, after 15 months of observation, significant differences had emerged in some primary domains (motor and auditory skills) as well as in melodic and rhythmic processing during functional brain imaging studies, but no cognitive transfer effects have yet been seen. With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Schlaug and Winner will continue to follow the original sample of young children for three additional years in order to test the following hypotheses: (1) Children in the instrumental group should show greater improvement on all cognitive outcomes, more brain growth in areas previously found to be enlarged in adult musicians, and a left-hemispheric shift in the functional brain correlates of music processing; (2) Training intensity should predict level of change on all outcome parameters; (3) String training may show different effects on the sensorimotor system than those shown by keyboard training; (4) Skill at reading notation should predict performance on visual-spatial tasks and subtests of math that require spatial reasoning, proportion, and ratio; (5) Skill in music processing should predict performance on phonemic awareness.
This project will demonstrate the relationship of skill acquisition, learning, and the effect of transfer to structural and functional brain changes during critical periods of brain maturation, all of which have important implications for early childhood education. Transfer is a key issue in educational theory that has both applied and theoretical value since it helps us to understand how mental capacities are organized and related to one another. This research will provide testable hypotheses with regard to the neural basis of transfer. While music education should never be justified solely in terms of its impact on extra-musical learning, the discovery of cognitive transfer from music learning and the neural basis of such transfer would be an important, beneficial "side-effect" of music training.
