Brain on Music Education 107: Stuck in the Middle with You. The Corpus Callosum: A Superhighway to Musicianship
Christopher Viereck, PhD, Neurobiologist in residence, Music Empowers Foundation
In this, our 7th column, we delve more deeply into a recent Music Empowers Facebook News brief on a new study, which found that early music training was associated with structural changes in the corpus callosum and better eye-hand coordination.� Let�s review the study. Hopefully, we�ll be able to shed some light into the complex methodologies the researchers used and how the findings can help you further Music Empowers� cause.
The research was published last month in the highly respected Journal of Neuroscience (1) based on work done at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal, Canada. �The lead researcher, Dr. CJ Steele, also has a position at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.
Let�s begin by telling you a little about the corpus callosum �a brain region we have not yet covered in previous columns.
We can boil down a lot of the technical jargon on the study�s design into the following table:
A few explanatory words on the tests: MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) �Diffusion Tensor Imaging. MRIs are used in most hospitals for viewing different parts of the body including the brain. MRI detectors cost at least a million dollars. To vastly oversimplify how MRIs work, they use strong pulsed magnetic fields to cause the nuclei in the brain to temporarily change configuration. Complex detectors and software translate these temporary configuration changes to build an image. The diffusion tensor type of MRI is designed to better view the white matter areas of the brain including the corpus callosum. �For the Temporal Motor Sequence Task (TMST), participants sat in front of a computer screen and were presented with a complex temporal series of short or long visual images. Participants are asked to reproduce the visual stimulus using finger taps. The accuracy and synchronization of their finger taps were measured on 2 consecutive days. The TMST can be used to detect both long- and short-term changes (brain plasticity) in performance and brain activity. The eye-hand coordination that the TMST requires parts from both cerebral hemispheres to be recruited.� The axons of the neurons involved in the TMST cross the brain hemispheres through specific areas of the corpus callosum. �You may recall the following boxed explanation of brain plasticity from an earlier column:
What were the study's findings? Participants who had begun musical training before the age of 7 performed better on the TMST tests than participants who had begun training after the age of 7. The Diffusion Tensor MRIs suggested that the corresponding regions of the corpus callosum where the axonal bundles involved in this task cross were larger in the early trained musicians compared to the late trained musicians. The researchers also found that the earlier the musical training began, the better the results were. This suggests that the corpus callosum seems to have a sensitive period around the age of 7 where growth of axonal bundles from different parts of the brain may be particularly enhanced and that the benefits of the additional growth may be reaped long afterward (provided musical training continues).
For those of you, who began your musical training after the age of 7, don�t despair! The researchers also tested another group of participants, who had had no or almost no musical training. This group fared worse that the early and late trained musicians in both tests.� Remember that the growth in the corpus callosum is but one facet of the complex changes that occur in the brain following musical training. ��
Please make certain you share this article with your school administers and school board and tell them: Music education no matter the age at which it begins is good for our children and will also help them excel in non-musical areas as well.
Don't forget to post any questions or comments. See you again soon.
Reference:
- Steele CJ, Bailey JA, Zatorre RJ Penhune VB. Early Music Training and White-Matter Plasticity in the Corpus Callosum: Evidence of a Sensitive Period. J Neurosci. 33(3): 1282-1290.