Learning In Music Can Change The Structure Of The Brain
It has been known for a long time that music can play an important role in learning. In fact, learning in music stimulates different parts of the brain. In this sense, various studies have shown that listening to certain songs or melodies improves the memory of patients with certain types of dementia such as Alzheimer’s.
Music can help us retain information better and optimize learning, since sounds can help us maintain our attention, evoke emotions, and stimulate visual images. Thus, students of all ages could use this practice to improve their concentration and reinforce the memory of the material they are trying to assimilate.
One of the great advantages of listening to music while learning is that you can choose a specific style for each case. In fact, experts suggest which style is more optimal for acquiring concrete knowledge.
It is important here to understand that studying and learning are not the same thing. While the goal of study is learning, not all learning comes through study. In fact, even if we know that music can play an important role in learning, many experts assure that, to study, the best is silence.
However, music can be a great ally in creating an atmosphere. In this sense, it has been proven that certain melodies can improve certain cognitive skills, such as spatial intelligence. Music has also been proven to help create the perfect state of mind for studying.
For example, one can listen to an “optimistic melody” to motivate learning, and more specifically songs with lyrics that promote positive thinking. You can also listen to a kind of music to gain energy, or to promote rest.
We can also listen to music to stimulate memory and make memories leave a deeper trace in our memory, so that learning then becomes something more sensory and / or interactive. In this sense, a certain type of melody or lyrics can be a great ally for parents and teachers.
Special mention for the use of music when it is used to maintain concentration in situations where it is not possible to be in silence or where it is difficult to isolate yourself from another type of noise that complicates concentration . In fact, it is difficult for many people to stay focused and attentive when there is external noise.
In this sense, researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy University in New York recently discovered that the addition of a natural element could increase mood and approach.
Thus, the sounds of nature can mask both intelligible speech and white noise, as well as improve cognitive functioning, by optimizing the ability to concentrate. While it is certain that this study focused on increasing the productivity of workers, in a way we can generalize its results to alleviate the problems encountered during the study due to outside noise.
Special mention for learning more physical skills or capacities. In a new study, carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Edinburgh and recently published in the medical journal Brain & Cognition , it has been proven that the use of music to learn or practice physical ability develops an important part of the brain.
This assumes a great deal of information, especially for people who have lost some degree of movement control, since the study could have positive implications for future research that will be conducted in the rehabilitation of these people.
In this sense, the study suggests that music makes a key difference. Music encourages people to be active, according to the researchers, and in fact, this study promotes the first experimental evidence that the addition of musical cues in learning new tasks can lead to changes in behavior. structure of white matter in the brain.
As part of their study, the researchers divided the right-handed volunteers into two groups and offered them to learn a new task that involved sequences of movements to be performed with the fingers of the non-hand. dominant, namely the left hand. One group learned the task with musical cues, while the other group learned the task without.
For four weeks, the two groups of volunteers devoted themselves in the same way to the learning sequences. However, after the MRI scan of the volunteers, the study found that the group that learned in music showed a significant increase in structural connectivity on the right side of the brain, while the group that learned without music did not. presented no changes. That’s why the team is waiting for the future study to determine if music can help in special types of motor rehabilitation programs.
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