by Kaiya Case, Kenyon College, ‘22
The following post is a position paper discussing the wide-reaching positive impacts of musical training on neurological development, particularly throughout the malleable adolescent period. Grounded in a breadth of relatively recent and decisive research, I argue that ample time for creative education should be built into the grade school curriculum.
It’s the classic trope; a grade school faces budget cuts, and without fail, the music department somehow finds itself first in line for the chopping block. Having attended the same small Quaker school all my life which prided itself to some extent on its performance arts, I really didn’t expect to fall victim to the same fate. I had always been I had always been heavily involved with music throughout middle and high school, gradually getting to know the small department and get involved in more ways than most others. I developed an almost peer-like relationship with my choral teacher, and always tried to find time to work with her outside of class, both performing independent work and discussing the program at open houses and such. Though my school was relatively proud of its arts program altogether, over the course of my high school years I still faced a number of frustrations with their treatment of the music program. It remained a point of advertising, and yet when we switched schedule systems my sophomore year, music was relegated to a shorter block of time, leaving students unable to learn more than one instrument and almost punishing them for taking music whatsoever, as while they had to practice for this short period every day, other students all had a rare block of shared free time. Then, despite the less than ideal state of our creative wing and the spotless gym we already had, the year following my graduation my school got a large grant directed all the money towards knocking down the old gym and building a massive new athletics facility overtop. Keeping in mind all we’ve learned about the importance of the adolescent period in regards to brain plasticity and the sharpening of more complex cognitive functions, I decided to investigate the impact of music practice specifically on development. With the following essay, I intend to demonstrate the value of music education and exercise on adolescent neurocognition, especially in regards to the concept of working memory and other executive functions. I argue that music programs should receive a higher relative proportion of grade school funding and attention, and some form of creative outlet should remain a course requirement throughout middle and high school.
Following the Adrianna Galván’s outline of these key concepts in her text The Neuroscience of Adolescence, working memory is defined as the ”temporary storage and processing of new and previously learned information” (Galván, p.146), and constitutes a critical element of neurocognition as memories are kept available for a period of cognitive processing. Without working memory, it would prove near impossible to reason, learn, or maintain concentration. This ability– accessed through verbal, numerical, and spatial thinking alike– is notably refined throughout adolescence, with what really continues to mature with age as one’s conscious ability to improve precision in working memory, as well as the development of the similarly broad range of brain regions involved. While fMRI testing has shown that the level of activation increases across development when it comes to simple memory tasks, it is the regions of activation which change across development when it comes to more complex tasks. That said, Galván notes that adolescents exhibit a different pattern altogether: They are able to perform just as well as adults, but maintaining the adult level of command demands more DLPFC activation from adolescents, suggesting greater effort needed for the same result. Another key neuroscientific structure which Galván discusses and factors significantly into the relationship between music and brain development is the prefrontal cortex, home of executive functioning. The prefrontal cortex allows humans exceptional cognitive flexibility “by serving an integrative function between sensory, motor, and higher cognitive regions” (p.121), and helps regulate our “top-down” processing. It remains environmentally “shapeable” (both reliant on and receptive to surrounding input) due to “complex, dynamic, and protracted development” (p.122).
Numerous intervention studies have targeted the many cognitive control functions which rely on the prefrontal cortex (i.e. inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility), providing some of the strongest evidence for its malleable development, as well as the particular impact of certain factors on development. One of these interventions using the study and rehearsal of music in adolescents as the independent variable was performed by researchers Nutley, Darki, and Klingberg over the course of the early 2000s and published in 2014 in the academic journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. They performed a longitudinal study which implemented music practice within the daily routines of a sample of individuals in order to determine its comparative effects on working memory, along with reasoning and cognitive processing speed. In their statement of intention, Nutley et al. mention that other intervention studies have proven the cognitive benefits of learning a musical instrument, and yet the childhood and adolescent periods critical to development have not yet been thoroughly explored in this manner. The intervention involved randomly chosen participants from the population of a small Swedish town ranging in age from six to twenty-five who were assessed three different times apiece, each session being two years apart (in 2007, 2009, and 2011, respectively). The variables of parental education and other extracurricular activities were accounted for. In addition, all recorded individuals spoke Swedish as their first language, were not diagnosed with any psychiatric or neurological disorders besides ADHD or dyslexia, and maintained unimpaired vision and hearing over the course of the experiment. Researchers tested working memory through the “dot matrix” task (where participants attempt to remember the location and order of dots shown in sequence on a digital grid) and “backward digit recall” (which involves repeating a series of numbers in the reverse order of how they are first read aloud). Processing speed was measured through a “letter–digit substitution task” (where a row of letters paired with numbers are shown, the numbers then removed, and participants asked to pair letters in different orders with their numbers), while non-verbal reasoning was assessed with “Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.” Reading and mathematical academic tests were also employed for participants aged eight to twenty-five, in addition to a lifestyle questionnaire. A consistent, positive association across all three points in time was shown between musical practice and all three factors of working memory capacity (both verbal and spatial), reasoning, and processing speed. The participants were supplementarily assessed with neural imaging (even though that was not the dependent variable of major focus), and likewise positive structural differences were found such as a “larger gray matter volume in the temporo-occipital and insular cortex” (Nutley et al.). Finally, positive change was also shown in proportion to the duration of instrument practice, reinforcing the direct connection between the activity and functional result.
In another article from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Swiss neuroscientific scholars Miendlarzewska and Trost provide a helpful comprehensive review of the lasting demonstrated benefits of musical training on brain development, concluding that it “not only enhances many cognitive functions but is accompanied by neuroplastic changes in brain structure and function” (Miendlarzewska & Trost). Far more than musical aptitude, the skills utilized have been shown to result in strengthened verbal and linguistic abilities, spatial and logical reasoning, listening precision, inhibition control, general academic achievement, and even social skills and emotional competence. Interestingly, individuals which experienced musical training from an early age (beginning throughout childhood and early adolescence) tend to more prominently exhibit the certain personality trait termed by researchers as “openness to experience.” This manifests in a heightened motivation to learn on a more broad scale, and is due to the rewarding nature of both musical training and listening illustrated through the dopamine release it prompts, and the subsequent role of the dopamine hormone in long-term memory formation and positive-feedback brain plasticity. Researchers even note the value of the various supplementary practices which often accompany musical training, such as public performance (which can prove stress-inducing, but in moderation “enables the individual to learn to overcome its disempowering impact with time”), the physical motor skills associated with many instruments, the social component of group ensembles, and even the “opportunity for creative self-expression and the development of an identity” (Miendlarzewska & Trost) which music education may offer.
Ultimately, devoting a certain amount of time to the practice of musical skills is not only beneficial on its own in sharpening executive functioning within the brain and strengthening one’s working memory, but it has proven a powerful supplement to traditional academic learning. These core cognitive skills are obviously applicable throughout other aspects of life, and provide a better foundation for other types of learning. Even more than their positive impact throughout the adolescent period, these effects are importantly lasting, with music practice having been reliably demonstrated as a positive predictor for a great number of advanced cognitive abilities. Given the only growing breadth of reassuring research on the neuroscientific value of creative education all throughout our development, coupled with the integral plasticity of the adolescent period in regards to the refinement of executive functioning, it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the importance of room for creative liberty within education.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex
Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957486/
References:
Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and Programs That Improve Children’s Executive Functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(5), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722.
Galván, A. (2017). The Neuroscience of Adolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Law, L.N.C., Zentner, M. (2012). Assessing Musical Abilities Objectively: Construction and Validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills. PLOS ONE 7(12): e52508. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052508.
Miendlarzewska, E. A., & Trost, W. J. (2014). How Musical Training Affects Cognitive Development: Rhythm, Reward and Other Modulating Variables. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 279. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2013.00279.
Miranda, D. (2013) The Role of Music in Adolescent Development: Much More Than the Same Old Song. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18:1, 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2011.650182.
Nutley, S. B., Darki, F., & Klingberg, T. (2014). Music Practice is Associated with Development of Working Memory During Childhood and Adolescence. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00926.
Séverine, S. (2009). Emotional Power of Music in Patients with Memory Disorders.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 245-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04555.x.
Zuk, J., Benjamin, C., Kenyon, A., Gaab, N. (2014). Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians. PLOS ONE 9(6): e99868. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099868.
It’s the classic trope; a grade school faces budget cuts, and without fail, the music department somehow finds itself first in line for the chopping block. Having attended the same small Quaker school all my life which prided itself to some extent on its performance arts, I really didn’t expect to fall victim to the same fate. I had always been I had always been heavily involved with music throughout middle and high school, gradually getting to know the small department and get involved in more ways than most others. I developed an almost peer-like relationship with my choral teacher, and always tried to find time to work with her outside of class, both performing independent work and discussing the program at open houses and such. Though my school was relatively proud of its arts program altogether, over the course of my high school years I still faced a number of frustrations with their treatment of the music program. It remained a point of advertising, and yet when we switched schedule systems my sophomore year, music was relegated to a shorter block of time, leaving students unable to learn more than one instrument and almost punishing them for taking music whatsoever, as while they had to practice for this short period every day, other students all had a rare block of shared free time. Then, despite the less than ideal state of our creative wing and the spotless gym we already had, the year following my graduation my school got a large grant directed all the money towards knocking down the old gym and building a massive new athletics facility overtop. Keeping in mind all we’ve learned about the importance of the adolescent period in regards to brain plasticity and the sharpening of more complex cognitive functions, I decided to investigate the impact of music practice specifically on development. With the following essay, I intend to demonstrate the value of music education and exercise on adolescent neurocognition, especially in regards to the concept of working memory and other executive functions. I argue that music programs should receive a higher relative proportion of grade school funding and attention, and some form of creative outlet should remain a course requirement throughout middle and high school.
Following the Adrianna Galván’s outline of these key concepts in her text The Neuroscience of Adolescence, working memory is defined as the ”temporary storage and processing of new and previously learned information” (Galván, p.146), and constitutes a critical element of neurocognition as memories are kept available for a period of cognitive processing. Without working memory, it would prove near impossible to reason, learn, or maintain concentration. This ability– accessed through verbal, numerical, and spatial thinking alike– is notably refined throughout adolescence, with what really continues to mature with age as one’s conscious ability to improve precision in working memory, as well as the development of the similarly broad range of brain regions involved. While fMRI testing has shown that the level of activation increases across development when it comes to simple memory tasks, it is the regions of activation which change across development when it comes to more complex tasks. That said, Galván notes that adolescents exhibit a different pattern altogether: They are able to perform just as well as adults, but maintaining the adult level of command demands more DLPFC activation from adolescents, suggesting greater effort needed for the same result. Another key neuroscientific structure which Galván discusses and factors significantly into the relationship between music and brain development is the prefrontal cortex, home of executive functioning. The prefrontal cortex allows humans exceptional cognitive flexibility “by serving an integrative function between sensory, motor, and higher cognitive regions” (p.121), and helps regulate our “top-down” processing. It remains environmentally “shapeable” (both reliant on and receptive to surrounding input) due to “complex, dynamic, and protracted development” (p.122).
Numerous intervention studies have targeted the many cognitive control functions which rely on the prefrontal cortex (i.e. inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility), providing some of the strongest evidence for its malleable development, as well as the particular impact of certain factors on development. One of these interventions using the study and rehearsal of music in adolescents as the independent variable was performed by researchers Nutley, Darki, and Klingberg over the course of the early 2000s and published in 2014 in the academic journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. They performed a longitudinal study which implemented music practice within the daily routines of a sample of individuals in order to determine its comparative effects on working memory, along with reasoning and cognitive processing speed. In their statement of intention, Nutley et al. mention that other intervention studies have proven the cognitive benefits of learning a musical instrument, and yet the childhood and adolescent periods critical to development have not yet been thoroughly explored in this manner. The intervention involved randomly chosen participants from the population of a small Swedish town ranging in age from six to twenty-five who were assessed three different times apiece, each session being two years apart (in 2007, 2009, and 2011, respectively). The variables of parental education and other extracurricular activities were accounted for. In addition, all recorded individuals spoke Swedish as their first language, were not diagnosed with any psychiatric or neurological disorders besides ADHD or dyslexia, and maintained unimpaired vision and hearing over the course of the experiment. Researchers tested working memory through the “dot matrix” task (where participants attempt to remember the location and order of dots shown in sequence on a digital grid) and “backward digit recall” (which involves repeating a series of numbers in the reverse order of how they are first read aloud). Processing speed was measured through a “letter–digit substitution task” (where a row of letters paired with numbers are shown, the numbers then removed, and participants asked to pair letters in different orders with their numbers), while non-verbal reasoning was assessed with “Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices.” Reading and mathematical academic tests were also employed for participants aged eight to twenty-five, in addition to a lifestyle questionnaire. A consistent, positive association across all three points in time was shown between musical practice and all three factors of working memory capacity (both verbal and spatial), reasoning, and processing speed. The participants were supplementarily assessed with neural imaging (even though that was not the dependent variable of major focus), and likewise positive structural differences were found such as a “larger gray matter volume in the temporo-occipital and insular cortex” (Nutley et al.). Finally, positive change was also shown in proportion to the duration of instrument practice, reinforcing the direct connection between the activity and functional result.
In another article from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Swiss neuroscientific scholars Miendlarzewska and Trost provide a helpful comprehensive review of the lasting demonstrated benefits of musical training on brain development, concluding that it “not only enhances many cognitive functions but is accompanied by neuroplastic changes in brain structure and function” (Miendlarzewska & Trost). Far more than musical aptitude, the skills utilized have been shown to result in strengthened verbal and linguistic abilities, spatial and logical reasoning, listening precision, inhibition control, general academic achievement, and even social skills and emotional competence. Interestingly, individuals which experienced musical training from an early age (beginning throughout childhood and early adolescence) tend to more prominently exhibit the certain personality trait termed by researchers as “openness to experience.” This manifests in a heightened motivation to learn on a more broad scale, and is due to the rewarding nature of both musical training and listening illustrated through the dopamine release it prompts, and the subsequent role of the dopamine hormone in long-term memory formation and positive-feedback brain plasticity. Researchers even note the value of the various supplementary practices which often accompany musical training, such as public performance (which can prove stress-inducing, but in moderation “enables the individual to learn to overcome its disempowering impact with time”), the physical motor skills associated with many instruments, the social component of group ensembles, and even the “opportunity for creative self-expression and the development of an identity” (Miendlarzewska & Trost) which music education may offer.
Ultimately, devoting a certain amount of time to the practice of musical skills is not only beneficial on its own in sharpening executive functioning within the brain and strengthening one’s working memory, but it has proven a powerful supplement to traditional academic learning. These core cognitive skills are obviously applicable throughout other aspects of life, and provide a better foundation for other types of learning. Even more than their positive impact throughout the adolescent period, these effects are importantly lasting, with music practice having been reliably demonstrated as a positive predictor for a great number of advanced cognitive abilities. Given the only growing breadth of reassuring research on the neuroscientific value of creative education all throughout our development, coupled with the integral plasticity of the adolescent period in regards to the refinement of executive functioning, it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the importance of room for creative liberty within education.
Ultimately, devoting a certain amount of time to the practice of musical skills is not only beneficial on its own in sharpening executive functioning within the brain and strengthening one’s working memory, but it has proven a powerful supplement to traditional academic learning. These core cognitive skills are obviously applicable throughout other aspects of life, and provide a better foundation for other types of learning. Even more than their positive impact throughout the adolescent period, these effects are importantly lasting, with music practice having been reliably demonstrated as a positive predictor for a great number of advanced cognitive abilities. Given the only growing breadth of reassuring research on the neuroscientific value of creative education all throughout our development, coupled with the integral plasticity of the adolescent period in regards to the refinement of executive functioning, it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the importance of room for creative liberty within education.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex
Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957486/
References:
Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and Programs That Improve Children’s Executive Functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(5), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412453722.
Galván, A. (2017). The Neuroscience of Adolescence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Law, L.N.C., Zentner, M. (2012). Assessing Musical Abilities Objectively: Construction and Validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills. PLOS ONE 7(12): e52508. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052508.
Miendlarzewska, E. A., & Trost, W. J. (2014). How Musical Training Affects Cognitive Development: Rhythm, Reward and Other Modulating Variables. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, 279. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2013.00279.
Miranda, D. (2013) The Role of Music in Adolescent Development: Much More Than the Same Old Song. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18:1, 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2011.650182.
Nutley, S. B., Darki, F., & Klingberg, T. (2014). Music Practice is Associated with Development of Working Memory During Childhood and Adolescence. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00926.
Séverine, S. (2009). Emotional Power of Music in Patients with Memory Disorders.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 245-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04555.x.
Zuk, J., Benjamin, C., Kenyon, A., Gaab, N. (2014). Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians. PLOS ONE 9(6): e99868. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099868.
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