Musicians keep better brain connectivity even at rest.

Musicians keep better brain connectivity even at rest.

Learning music is a multisensory experience motor usually starts at an early age. Playing an instrument requires several skills: speed reading of a complex symbolic system (most of the time simultaneously in different "keys", as with the piano), its translation into a sequential bimanual motor activity which is fed by a return multisensory on notes produced and the consequent emotion accompanying interpretation.

Although we are not fully aware of musical performance, unlike other motor activities, it requires a perfect synchronization of various actions organized hierarchically with an obvious tonal control of production. This implies a special dedication of cognitive functions, including attention. Therefore, it is not too extraordinary that the brains of musicians accuse certain structural changes, higher density of gray matter in those brain areas related to music production (eg auditory area and / or motor). But surprisingly, changes are detected in other areas, in principle not directly related to the strictly musical, such as the inferior frontal gyrus.

Such findings suggest that plasticity can occur either in regions that have a direct control over the primary musical performances, as well as those that act as areas of multimodal integration for musical skills, possibly as a mechanism for mediation or transfer to other non- specifically music.

A recent study by Chinese researchers (Luo et al., 2012) measured through neuroimaging, brain activity at rest (without performing any task) in musicians compared to non-musicians, concluding that in the first there was an increase connectivity and multi-sensory motor areas. This reflects the long-term influence of music learning in brain functional connectivity. For musicians, therefore, multi-sensory and motor areas are better able to set operation which can result in a better predisposition or other processing facility not specifically musical fields.

Again, they show strong arguments about the benefits of music learning that policymakers should seriously consider prioritizing the music as a compulsory transversal matter given its positive effect on brain development.