YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC

1. YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC Dr. Don P. Ester Professor of Music Education Ball State University Download this Powerpoint at dester.iweb.bsu.edu

2. The Brain

3. The Brain Hemispheres and the Corpus Callosum Left: Language Math Logical Right: Spatial Reasoning Art Appreciation Intuitive Music perception, response, and performance involves interplay of hemispheres via corpus callosum

4. The Brain Lobes of the Cerebrum

5. The 3 Domains of Learning Cognitive Knowledge Psychomotor Skills Affective Feelings

6. The Cognitive Domain Perception - Cognition

7. The Cognitive Domain Working (Short-term) Memory Information is stored here for only 5-20 seconds; cognitive processing takes place at this stage. Very limited capacity, which was first defined by Miller (1956) as being seven units (bits), plus or minus two. Chunking can increase this limit by combining units into organized chunks, with each chunk then becoming a single unit.

8. The Cognitive Domain Long-term Memory Meaningful learning results when new information is organized so that it connects to stored knowledge and is therebyanchoredin long-term memory Capacity appears to be unlimited

9. The Cognitive Domain Neuromusical investigations are producing evidence that infants are born with neural mechanisms devoted exclusively to music.

10. The Cognitive Domain Sample Interactions with Other Subjects Students who studied music appreciation scored 46 points higher on the math portion of the SAT in 1995, and 39 points higher if they had music performance experiences, than those without music education. Music lessons in childhood are associated with small but long-lasting increases in IQ. Children who received early music/arts training displayed more significant gains in language and pre-literary skills, attention, visual-spatial skills, and numerical skills.

11. The Psychomotor Domain Sensory Cortexes

12. SensoryCortexes

13. Speech Areas

14. The Psychomotor Domain The Child’s Brain • Babies begin to respond to music while still in the womb. • At a very early age, innate capability (aptitude) is shaped by the music system of the culture in which a child is raised. That culture affects the construction of instruments, the way people sound when they sing, and even the way they hear sound.

15. The Psychomotor Domain The Musician’s Brain 25% increase in the number of auditory nerve cells dedicated to processing complex piano tones (vs. sine tones) in pianists vs. non-pianists. Enlarged cerebellum in professional musicians for precise timing and accuracy of motor commands. The brain learns and controls movements not muscles. The neurons store the information for a complex movement; adjacent neurons communicate with each other and fire in a complex sequence – this sequence is stored in a specific area.

16. The Psychomotor Domain Plasticity Early training grows the brain More neurons dedicated to specific motor functions than “average” person Later training changes the brain

17. The Psychomotor Domain Musician’s Brains:Empirical Evidence of Plasticity Enlarged motor cortex areas Especially if prolonged practice began before age 10 Corresponding to fingers 2-5 of left hand in violinists when prolonged practice began before age 10 Dominant vs. Non-dominant areas more equal in size Enlarged front portion of corpus callosum 12% thicker nerve fibers in professional violinists and pianists, especially if prolonged practice began before age 7 Enlarged sensory areas Enlarged areas of the auditory cortex, motor cortex, and visuospatial cortex appears to be a result of music learning

18. The Psychomotor Domain Musician’s Brains: Empirical Evidence of Plasticity Enlarged Wernicke Region in musicians with absolute pitch Strong linkage develops between the auditory cortex and motor cortex of performers as a result of habit (practice) Playing an “air” scale can “cause” one to hear it; hearing a scale can “cause” fingers to move in response

19. The Psychomotor Domain By approximately age 11, neuron circuits that permit all kinds of perceptual and sensory discrimination, such as identifying pitch and rhythm, become closed off.

20. The Affective Domain Most neuroscience research in the area of music, as extensive as it has been in recent years, has focused on the cognitive processes of music and the development of psychomotor skills. Little attention has been paid to the affective aspects of appreciating music.

21. The Affective Domain The Limbic System - Center for Emotions

22. Emotional Response From: Poe’s Heart and the Mountain Climber, R. Restak, Three Rivers Press, 2004

23. The Interaction of The Domains At the age of 4 months, dissonant notes at the end of a melody causes infants to squirm and turn away. If they like a tune, they may coo.

24. The Interaction of The Domains Clinical examples from Musicophilia (Oliver Sacks) provide a fascinating picture of the interaction between the different aspects of brain function Sudden Musicophilia Sensory-limbic hyperconnection leading to quickly emerging musical talent as a result of a lightning strike Individuals may be very “musically talented” but rather indifferent to music (e.g., rather common to Asperger’s Syndrome), or they may be unable to carry a tune and cognitively challenged yet be passionately sensitive to music (e.g., William’s Syndrome).

25. The Interaction of The Domains Epileptic seizures (temporal lobe) induced by music Audiation / Brainworms / Hallucinations Imagining music stimulates the auditory cortex almost as strongly as actually listening to it. Focal Dystonia - non-response or inaccurate response of motor movements Music Therapy’s impact on expressive and receptive aphasia Musical Synesthesia Most common: association of color with pitches, modes, etc.

26. The Aesthetic Response Cognitive Aesthetic Response Psychomotor Affective

27. The Case for Aesthetic Education A man who works with his hands is a laborer; A man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; A man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer In the cake of life, the arts are not frosting - they are baking soda. -adapted from Tooby & Cosmides

28. The Case for Aesthetic Education I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. -John Adams, President