Music on the brain
A neurological study of classical musicians trained in different styles


Date:
July 20, 2020
Source:
University of Tokyo
Summary:
A new study looks at differences between the brains of
Japanese classical musicians, Western classical musicians and
nonmusicians. Researchers investigated specific kinds of neural
behavior in participants as they were exposed to unfamiliar rhythms
and nonrhythmic patterns. Trained musicians showed greater powers
of rhythmic prediction compared to nonmusicians, with more subtle
differences between those trained in Japanese or Western classical
music. This research has implications for studies of cultural
impact on learning and brain development.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study looks at differences between the brains of Japanese classical musicians, Western classical musicians and nonmusicians. Researchers investigated specific kinds of neural behavior in participants as they
were exposed to unfamiliar rhythms and nonrhythmic patterns. Trained
musicians showed greater powers of rhythmic prediction compared to nonmusicians, with more subtle differences between those trained in
Japanese or Western classical music. This research has implications for
studies of cultural impact on learning and brain development.


========================================================================== "Music is ubiquitous and indispensable in our daily lives. Music can
reward us, comfort us and satisfy us emotionally," said Project Assistant Professor Tatsuya Daikoku from the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo. "So it's no surprise the
effect of music on the brain is well-researched. However, many studies
focus on Western classical music, pop, jazz, etc., whereas ours is the
first study that investigates neural mechanisms in practitioners of
Japanese classical music, known as gagaku." Many Japanese performance
arts, such as in Noh or Kabuki theater, include music that does not
necessarily follow a regular beat pattern as Western classical music
typically does. That is, Japanese classical music sometimes expands or contracts beats without mathematical regularity. This time interval
is often referred to as ma, which is an important notion throughout
Japanese culture.

Daikoku and his research partner, Assistant Professor Masato Yumoto from
the Graduate School of Medicine, explored how different groups of trained musicians and nonmusicians responded to different rhythm patterns. The
idea was to see how musical training might influence statistical learning,
the way our brains interpret and anticipate sequential information:
in this case, rhythms.

The researchers recorded participants' brain activity directly using a technique called magnetoencephalography, which looks at magnetic signals
in the brain. From the data, Daikoku and Yumoto were able to ascertain
that statistical learning of the rhythms took place in the left hemisphere
of participants' brains. And importantly, there was a greater level of
activity in those with musical training, be it in Japanese or Western
classical music.

"We expected that musicians would exhibit strong statistical learning
of unfamiliar rhythm sequences compared to nonmusicians. This has been
observed in previous studies which looked at responses to unfamiliar
melodies. So this in itself was not such a surprise," said Daikoku. "What
is really interesting, however, is that we were able to pick out
differences in the neural responses between those trained in Japanese
or Western classical music." These differences between Japanese and
Western classical musicians are far more subtle and become apparent in
the higher-order neural processing of complexity in rhythm. Though it is
not the case that one culture or another performed better or worse than
the other, this finding does imply that different cultural upbringings
and systems of education can have a tangible effect on brain development.

"This research forms part of a larger puzzle we wish to explore --
that of differences and similarities between the languages and music of cultures and how they affect learning and development," said Daikoku. "We
also look into music as a way to treat developmental disorders such as
language impairment.

Personally, I hope to see a rejuvenation of interest in Japanese classical music; perhaps this study will inspire those unfamiliar with such music
to hear and cherish this key part of Japanese cultural history."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Tokyo. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tatsuya Daikoku, Masato Yumoto. Musical expertise facilitates
statistical
learning of rhythm and the perceptive uncertainty: A cross-cultural
study. Neuropsychologia, 2020; 146: 107553 DOI: 10.1016/
j.neuropsychologia.2020.107553 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200720093255.htm

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