[Dixielandjazz] MUSICIANS' BRAINS (they exist)

[Charlie Hooks]

FROM THE DRUDGE REPORT, JUNE 16, 2002


Musicians found to have 'more sensitive brains'

By Lorna Duckworth, Health Correspondent

17 June 2002

Musicians have bigger and more sensitive brains than people who do not play
instruments, scientists revealed yesterday.

The auditory cortex, which is the part of the brain concerned with hearing,
contains 130 per cent more "grey matter" in professional musicians than in
non-musicians.

In amateur players, the volume of the auditory cortex is between the two, a
team of researchers from Heidelberg University in Germany has found. They
used scans and imaging techniques to compare the size and activity of the
auditory cortex in 37 people.

The professionals, who all performed regularly, showed 102 per cent more
activity in their auditory cortex than non-musicians. Activity in the brains
of amateur musicians was on average 37 per cent higher than in those who did
not play an instrument, the researchers said in a report in Nature
Neuroscience. The auditory cortex consists mainly of "grey matter" or nerve
cells called neurons, which are interconnected by long filament-like axons,
or "white matter".

The scientists found startling physical differences between the three
groups. Those with musical experience had larger amounts of grey matter in
the region called the Heschl's gyrus. The structure contained 536 to 983
cubic millimetres of grey matter in professional musicians, 189 to 798 cubic
millimetres in amateurs, and 172 to 450 cubic millimetres in non-musicians.
There was also a high correlation between auditory brain activity and the
musical aptitude of volunteers, who were asked to spot subtle changes in
pairs of short melodies.

The researchers added that post-mortem studies had revealed abnormally large
Heschl's gyrus structures in two eminent musicians. But whether such
differences were due to genetics or the effect of musical exposure on the
brain remained unclear.

"Our results indicate that the morphology and neurophysiology of HG
(Heschl's gyrus) have an essential impact on musical aptitude," said the
report's lead author, Peter Schneider. "The question remains, however,
whether early exposure to music or a genetic predisposition leads to the
functional and anatomical differences between musicians and non-musicians."


 charliehooks@earthlink.net