Psychology of Music

Essay 1

Music and Brain Development

There are three major perspectives on the positive impact of music education to the core curricula in school . The study on how music shares value to brain development has opened new views for all educators According to the study of Neurological Research in February 1997 , music develops abstract reasoning skills needed for the learning process of children in math and science . It was proven that training in music is more efficient than computer learning for teaching math and science skills (Peretz and Zatorre , 2005 p

It was reported that music training could be more effective than computer instruction for teaching these skills . The findings were the result of a two year experiment with preschoolers by Rauscher et . Al Wriht et al in 1997 , compared the effects of musical and non-musical training on intellectual development as a follow-up to their studies on music can enhance spatial-reasoning . They concluded that music enhanced brain functions that were required for learning mathematics , science and engineering (Brust , 2003

Several studies have suggested that beginning music training early corresponds to greater growth in certain areas of the brain (Schlang et al , 2003 . For example , researchers in Germany identified the planum temporale , a part of the left hemisphere as the region of the brain responsible for the perfect pitch and speech . This term used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI ) to look at the planun temporale in non-musicians and professional musicians , some with perfect pitch and some without it They discovered that the planum temporale in those with perfect pitch was twice as large as the other groups . Also with perfect pitch has started a music lesson before age seven

Rauscher et al (1997 ) found that musicians had thicker nerve fibers in the corpus callosum , the part of the brain that carries signals between the two hemispheres , if they started keyboard training before the age of seven . Babo (2001 ) discussed , researchers , work at the University of Konstanz in Germany which focused that exposure to music helped to rewire neural circuits . They concluded that the brains of pianists were more efficient at making skilled movements than the brains of others These findings suggested that musical training could enhance brain function (Trainor and Schmidt , 2003

Schlaug et al (1995 ) used MRI to discover that musicians who started studying music before the age of 7 had regions in their brains (the corpus callosum and the right motor cortex ) that were larger than corresponding regions in both non-musicians and musicians whose training began at a later age . However , in response to questions about his study Schlaug et al not to recommend when music should be taught since some very skilled musicians began performing in their twenties or thirties . Schlaug et al . also reported that most musicians who have perfect pitch started music lessons before the age of seven . However according to Diamond and Hopson (1998 "early music training is associated with more growth in this one particular brain region . if training starts later or is absent altogether...