Music benefits the brain, research reveals

` Music benefits the brain, research reveals Northwestern University scientists have pulled together a review of research into what music -specifically, learning to play music -- does to humans. The result shows music training does far more than allow us... More

` Music benefits the brain, research reveals Northwestern University scientists have pulled together a review of research into what music -specifically, learning to play music -- does to humans. The result shows music training does far more than allow us to entertain ourselves and others by playing an instrument or singing. Instead, it actually changes our brains. The paper, just published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, is a compilation of research findings from scientists all over the world who used all kinds of research methods. The bottom line to all these studies: musical training has a profound impact on other skills including speech and language, memory and attention, and even the ability to convey emotions vocally. So what is it that musical training does? According to the Northwestern scientists, the findings strongly indicate it adds new neural connections -- and that primes the brain for other forms of human communication. In fact, actively working with musical sounds Less