Taking up the piano or playing the guitar could change the shape and power of the brain and improve IQ by seven points both in adults and children, according to a Swiss study from two years ago.
There is mounting evidence that musicians’ brains function in a different way to non-musicians’ - when a person learns how to play an instrument, the parts of the brain that control motor skills and hearing become larger and more active.
“We found that even in people over the age of 65, after four or five months of playing an instrument for an hour a week there were changes in the brain,” says psychologist Lutz Jancke.
A separate study last year showed that learning to play an instrument in childhood has key advantages for a developing brain and may help children improve their language skills.
Playing music significantly enhances the brain’s sensitivity to speech sounds and could help both normal children and those with problems such as dyslexia and autism, according to a paper presented to the American Association For The Advancement Of Science by a US neuroscientist. - Daily Mail