Thank goodness I started playing music when I was a kid, probably around 10 years old. If I hadn't begun reading music and playing the trombone in the 4th grade, I probably would have a worse memory then I already have :) Previous research has shown that playing music can lead to better language processing skills and enhanced working memory. Now new research has determined that playing music also allows musicians to be better able to store that established knowledge for the long-term.
Dr. Heekyeong Park, assistant professor of psychology along with other researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington, measured electrical neuron activity in the brains of 14 musicians who had been studying classical music for at least 15 years. They had these participants play memory games with both words and pictures while hooked up to an EEG (Electroencephalography) machine. This EEG machine records processing differences in the frontal and temporal lobes, and the memory games were designed to test both working and long term memory.
The study results revealed that the musicians scored higher than the control group of participants on both the working memory tests and the long term memory tests. Currently, the research team is not able to determine why musicians score higher on these memory tests, however these findings provide hope that perhaps some type of musical training may help those who have difficulty with cognitive and other memory challenges.
The team at the University of Texas at Arlington presented their findings in November 2014 at the Neuroscience 2014, the international meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Washington, D.C. - For more information on their study please visit them at www.uta.edu/news/releases/2014/11/music-memory.php We first heard about this study from our friends at the www.huffingtonpost.com - Musicians-Have-Better-Memory
That's for today folks - Happy Monday and just two more days till New Years Eve 2014 and a new beginning in 2015. We'll be back with another post before the clock strikes midnight on 12/31/2014!
Peace, Love & Happiness
Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
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