The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development

A Longitudinal Study

  1. Krista L. Hyde1,
  2. Jason Lerch2,
  3. Andrea Norton3,
  4. Marie Forgeard3,
  5. Ellen Winner4,
  6. Alan C. Evans1,
  7. Gottfried Schlaug3

Article first published online: 24 JUL 2009

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04852.x

Issue

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hyde, K. L., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A. C. and Schlaug, G. (2009), The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169: 182–186. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04852.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

  2. 2

    Mouse Imaging Centre, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  3. 3

    Department of Neurology, Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

*Addresses for correspondence: Krista L. Hyde, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, 3801 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2B4, Canada. krista.hyde@mail.mcgill.ca and Gottfried Schlaug, Department of Neurology, Music and Neuroimaging Lab, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215. gschlaug@bidmc.harvard.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 24 JUL 2009
  2. Article first published online: 24 JUL 2009

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Keywords:

  • brain plasticity;
  • development;
  • music;
  • children;
  • MRI

Long-term instrumental music training is an intense, multisensory and motor experience that offers an ideal opportunity to study structural brain plasticity in the developing brain in correlation with behavioral changes induced by training. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate structural brain changes after only 15 months of musical training in early childhood, which were correlated with improvements in musically relevant motor and auditory skills. These findings shed light on brain plasticity, and suggest that structural brain differences in adult experts (whether musicians or experts in other areas) are likely due to training-induced brain plasticity.

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