Musicians and Non-musicians: How Our Brains Differ

Musicians at an early age must learn complex motor and auditory skills which are further practiced from childhood all the way through their musical careers.  Evidence has supported that there are significant differences in the motor, visuo-spatial, and auditory regions of the brain regarding grey matter volume.  In a conducted experiment, professional musicians were matched with amateur musicians and non-musicians to determine what distinct differences may occur.

WHAT EXACTLY DO MUSICIANS’ BRAINS DO THAT DIFFERS FROM NON-MUSICIANS’ BRAINS?

Complex physical and mental operations are common characteristics of the activities musicians must undergo in order to perform music.   Sequential finger movements, memorization, recognition of tones, and improvisation are just a few of the many operations that are required of a musician.  While playing a musical instrument, the musician’s body undergoes a simultaneous integration of multimodial motor and sensory information along with sensory feedback mechanisms to monitor performance.  These highly specialized sensorimotor regions of the brain have been studied through behavioral studies, neuroimaging studies, and neurophysiological studies.

WHAT EVIDENCE HAS BEEN FOUND?

Structural brain differences between musicians and non-musicians have been reported in a selection of auditory and motor brain regions.  Furthermore, there has been evidence that while performing motor, auditory, or somatosensory tasks, there have been significant differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians.  Functional and anatomical markers of skills have been commonly found in an enlargement of the representative area that encompasses that particular skill, but it continue to remains uncertain whether it is the continuous repetition of skills over an advanced period of time or a mere enlargement of the brain that explains this circumstance.

An increase in gray matter has also been a significant finding in musicians’ brains.  This is particularly profound in brain regions that involve motor, auditory, and visual regions, as each location is involved in numerous activities: planning, preparing, executing, and controlling.  The results of many studies have provided strong evidence that shows specialized skills are linked to structural brain regions.

Although these studies do not prove that there is a direct link between use-dependent regional growth and music, it does support these facts.  There may be other explanations such as neural plasticity, variability, self-selection, and pure innate skills.  However, differences between musicians and non-musicians have supported that there are several anatomically unique locations in the brain that makes it less likely to believe that the differences are, in fact, innate.  It is expected that future experiments will be able to determine the correlation of predisposition and repetition.