Musicians' Brains Differ from Those of Non-musicians
Music can change your life, and it also can change your brain. Musicians spend long hours practicing with their instruments, and this practice gives them skills that the rest of us lack. For example, violinists develop special hand motor skills by intensive practice, that could lead to differences in both their hand movements and their brains.
(I-Newswire) - A group of scientists from the University of Chicago, led by Steven Small, used MRI scans to study whether patterns of brain activity generated when people move their fingers differ between violinists and non-violinists.
Expert amateur violinists and people with no musical training participated in the study that measured their brain activity while they performed a task that cued them to use one of their fingers to press on a violin string located on a fingerboard placed in their lap. Movement of fingers in the left hand was predicted by activity in the motor brain region in musicians but not non-musicians.
Conversely, movement of fingers in the right hand led to predictable brain activity only in non-musicians. Thus, extensive practice of specific movements of the individual fingers in violinists' left hands results in reorganized patterns of brain activity.
Curiously, the part of the brain responsible for the right hand is actually less functionally specific in violinists, presumably because using the bow requires more globally synchronized movements of this hand.
This intriguing finding, presented at the recent meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in Toronto, shows that extensive practice in musicians, and likely also in athletes and other physically skilled people, changes their brains as well as their bodies.
Organization for Human Brain Mapping L&L Management 5841 Cedar Lake Rd. Ste. 108 Minneapolis, MN 55416 United States http://www.humanbrainmapping.org
If you have questions regarding information in this press release contact the company listed below. I-Newswire.com is a press release service and not the author of this press release. The information that is on or available through this site is for informational purposes only and speaks only as of the particular date or dates of that information. As some companies / PR Agencies submit their press releases once per week/month or quarter, make sure check the official company website for accurate release dates as our site displays the I-Newswire.com distribution date only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on or available through this site, and we are not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in that information or for actions taken in reliance on that information.
Immerse yourself in mystery and magic with two exciting new casual games from Focus Multimedia and Big Fish Games Studios, one of the world’s leading casual game developers. Hidden Expedition Titanic and Azada join Focus’ popular Revival range of super-budget price games and are available in a store near you.
Edraw Max enables students, teachers and business professionals to reliably create and publish kinds of diagrams to represent any ideas. With large pre-drawn libraries and more than 4600 vector symbols, drawing couldn't be easier!
New range of cards launched to make you the cover star.Hallmark Cards in partnership with OK Magazine has launched an exclusive and exciting new range of greeting cards that gives people the chance to give family and friends the A-List treatment.
Many people choose not to pursue an accident claim. The reasons range from knowing the insurance company will settle; to they don't want the legal hassles and expense.
Many individuals and businesses have always purchased their personal computers from a well-known provider to pre-conceived specifications. Increasingly...
The effectiveness of SEO and PPC Services are directly related to the quality and quantity of the performance data that they have to work with. If you are seeking assistance in achieving a higher ranking on search engine results, then we suggest you visit RankYourWebsites.com, specialist in this area. If you have found your attempts at optimization to prove fruitless, the representatives at RankYourWebsites.com will have a solution to increase your traffic.
http://www.vineyardsforsalein.com/ - online island vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale paso, texas vineyard for sale, washington vineyard for sale, tuscany vineyard for sale, vineyard for sale santa, vineyard for sale California
Mark Flanagan, Managing Director of Manchester health and safety, food safety and fire safety consultancy, Shieldyourself, discussed the Scores on the Doors scheme when he made a guest appearance on the BBC’s 5 Live Radio Show recently.
