Navigation Links
Research shows that time invested in practicing pays off for young musicians
Date:11/4/2008

A Harvard-based study published October 29 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, led by Drs. Gottfried Schlaug and Ellen Winner has found that children who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental trainingnot only in tests of auditory discrimination and finger dexterity (skills honed by the study of a musical instrument), but also on tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion (skills not normally associated with music).

41 eight- to eleven-year-olds who had studied either piano or a string instrument for a minimum of three years were compared to 18 children who had no instrumental training. Children in both groups spent 30-40 minutes per week in general music classes at school, but those in the instrumental group also received private lessons learning an instrument (averaging 45 minutes per week) and spent additional time practicing at home.

While it is no surprise that the young musicians scored significantly higher than those in the control group on two skills closely related to their music training (auditory discrimination and finger dexterity), the more surprising result was that they also scored higher in two skills that appear unrelated to musicverbal ability (as measured by a vocabulary IQ test) and visual pattern completion (as measured by the Raven's Progressive Matrices). And furthermore, the longer and more intensely the child had studied his or her instrument, the better he or she scored on these tests.

Studying an instrument thus seems to bring benefits in areas beyond those that are specifically targeted by music instruction, but that is not the end of the story. Although this research sheds light on the question of whether connections between music and other, unrelated skills do exist, more studies examining the causal relationships between instrumental music training, practice intensity, and cognitive enhancements are needed.


'/>"/>
Contact: Gottfried Schlaug
gschlaug@bidmc.harvard.edu
Public Library of Science
Source:Eurekalert

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Research shows skeleton to be endocrine organ
2. Newly created cancer stem cells could aid breast cancer research
3. Dominant cholesterol-metabolism ideas challenged by new research
4. Researchers identify proteins involved in new neurodegenerative syndrome
5. Texas researchers and educators head for Antarctica
6. MGH researchers describe new way to identify, evolve novel enzymes
7. University of Pennsylvania researchers develop formula to gauge risk of disease clusters
8. University of Oregon researcher finds that on waters surface, nitric acid is not so tough
9. U of MN researchers discover noninvasive diagnostic tool for brain diseases
10. U of Minnesota researchers discover noninvasive diagnostic tool for brain diseases
11. Story ideas from the Journal of Lipid Research

Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
(Date:11/9/2009)...e for the rapid, mysterious death of phytoplankton...laborating scientists at Rutgers University and th...is same chemical may hold unexpected promise in ca...y unknown lipid, or fatty compound, in a virus tha...i , a phytoplankton that plays a major role in the...
(Date:11/9/2009)... A nutritionist whose research was instrumental i...n, Infants and Children (WIC) food subsidy will re...utstanding achievement in the field of maternal-fe...a professor in the Department of Community Health ...les School of Public Health, will receive the awar...
(Date:11/8/2009)...e loss of a gene through deletion of genetic mater...t abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a c...Medicine ( www.bcm.edu ) in a report that appears ... "This research goes about 95 percent of the way t...dividuals to this gene," said Dr. Arthur L. Beaude...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Newly discovered fat molecule: An undersea killer with an upside 2Newly discovered fat molecule: An undersea killer with an upside 3Newly discovered fat molecule: An undersea killer with an upside 4March of Dimes honors Dr. Gail Harrison for outstanding work in maternal-fetal nutrition 2Developmental delay could stem from nicotinic receptor deletion 2Highmark Caring Place To Honor Midstate Volunteers 48566 1Highmark Caring Place To Honor Midstate Volunteers 48566 2Highmark Caring Place To Honor Midstate Volunteers 48566 3New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 1New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 2New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 3New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 4New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 5New Phase 3 Data Continue to Indicate that Wyeths Investigational 13 valent Vaccine Has the Potential to Broaden Coverage Against Pneumococcal Disease 12578 6PAREXEL Enhances Study Start Up and Recruitment Capabilities With Appointment of Dr Lars Olof Eriksson Formerly With Merck 48561 1PAREXEL Enhances Study Start Up and Recruitment Capabilities With Appointment of Dr Lars Olof Eriksson Formerly With Merck 48561 2PAREXEL Enhances Study Start Up and Recruitment Capabilities With Appointment of Dr Lars Olof Eriksson Formerly With Merck 48561 3PAREXEL Enhances Study Start Up and Recruitment Capabilities With Appointment of Dr Lars Olof Eriksson Formerly With Merck 48561 4PAREXEL Enhances Study Start Up and Recruitment Capabilities With Appointment of Dr Lars Olof Eriksson Formerly With Merck 48561 5
...ute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) have identif...), a protein that acts against HIV, a finding that...fection. , The work is published today, Oct. 2, ...iences, USA. , The research, conducted by scient...Greene, MD, PhD, explains why CD4 T cells ?the imm...
...roke, paramedics, doctors, and nurses follow stand...heir efforts improve your odds for a full recovery...ction known as sepsis, which can be fatal within a...too late. , Now, a new, multicenter research cons...Shock (ProCESS), is beginning a large-scale study ...
...stem controls HIV during the earliest phases of in...sions of key immune-system molecules called HLA Cl...fragments of viral protein those molecules display...d cells. In a report in the November issue of PLO...earch Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PA...
Other Biology News:Gladstone investigators identify a new protective action for the powerful anti-HIV factor, APOBEC3G 2New study aims to stop sepsis in its tracks 2New study aims to stop sepsis in its tracks 3Early-stage immune system control of HIV may depend on inherited factors 2Early-stage immune system control of HIV may depend on inherited factors 3
(Date:11/9/2009)..., PLYMOUTH, Mass., Nov. 9 Har...announced today that the company sponsored 48-pati... the U.S. and one site in India using the company,... to treat patients with non-reconstructable Critic...Mark D. Iafrati, M.D. Chief of Vascular Surgery at...
(Date:11/9/2009)..., WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ ...e American Humanist Association, held a panel disc... controversial emerging technologies in biomedical...ed by Jonathan Moreno and Andrew Light, both of th... issues from ethical and political angles. ,, ...
(Date:11/9/2009)..., BEIJING, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstC...), ("Yongye or "the Company") a leading manufactur... plant and animal nutrient products in the,People,... will conduct a,conference call at 10:00 a.m. East...mber 16, 2009 to discuss results for the quarter e...
(Date:11/9/2009)..., SCHIEDLBERG, Austria, November 9 /PRNew...ver the world have been working on the development...rect communication channel,between the brain and a...zed,patients to communicate or to control devices ...ng the last years some patients have been supervis...
Breaking Biology Technology:Harvest Technologies Announces Completion of Patient Enrollment in its Randomized, Controlled, Double Blind Multicenter IDE Non-Reconstructable Critical Limb Ischemia Trial 2Jonathan Moreno and Andrew Light Speak About Biotechnology and Global Warming at the National Press Club 2Jonathan Moreno and Andrew Light Speak About Biotechnology and Global Warming at the National Press Club 3Yongye International Announces Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2009 Results 2Yongye International Announces Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2009 Results 3intendiX - Communication by Thoughts: First Patient-Ready System on the Market 2
...are flexibility , Detect Released Oligosacchari... System , Angela R. Downs Deborah A. Greer Sta...iversity, Dover, DE , We compared the Eagle Eye ... SE2000 gel imager system,for imaging Fluorophor...s. The,data generated from either system were no...
...h integrated DNA-removal step , Karen Dolter...otal RNA miniprep kit efficiently,isolates high-...,cells or 10 to 40 mg of tissue and includes an on... samples can be processed simultaneously because o...n is performed within microspin cups,which elim...
...kits target specific mutations using molecular bea...Lingyu Chen Haoqiang,Huang Jason Zhang ,Stra...ation, molecular beacons ,can distinguish human... only a,single nucleotide. We developed three si...technology, to quickly detect three common human g...
Other Biology Technology:Detect Released Oligosaccharides Using the Eagle Eye II,Still Video Imaging System 2Detect Released Oligosaccharides Using the Eagle Eye II,Still Video Imaging System 3Detect Released Oligosaccharides Using the Eagle Eye II,Still Video Imaging System 4Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 2Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 3Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 4Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 5Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 6Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 7Simple Isolation of RNA from Tissue and Cultured Cells 8Fluorescence-Based Single-Tube Assays to Rapidly Detect Human Gene Mutations 2Fluorescence-Based Single-Tube Assays to Rapidly Detect Human Gene Mutations 3Fluorescence-Based Single-Tube Assays to Rapidly Detect Human Gene Mutations 4Fluorescence-Based Single-Tube Assays to Rapidly Detect Human Gene Mutations 5Fluorescence-Based Single-Tube Assays to Rapidly Detect Human Gene Mutations 6
HeLa Cell Slide from ProSci, Inc
EL4 Cell Slide from ProSci, Inc
IHC Select TE Buffer pH 9.0 [Antigen/ Epitope Retrieval Reagent], 10x from CHEMICON
Hep G2 Cell Slide from ProSci, Inc
Biology Products: