Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development

Fundamental changes in brain structure and function during adolescence are well-characterized, but the extent to which experience modulates adolescent neurodevelopment is not. Musical experience provides an ideal case for examining this question because the influence of music training begun early in...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 112; no. 32; pp. 10062 - 10067
Main Authors Tierney, Adam T., Krizman, Jennifer, Kraus, Nina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 11.08.2015
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Adolescent
Auditory Cortex - growth & development
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Auditory Perception
Behavior
Biological Sciences
Brain
Demography
Electrodes
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Music
Music education
Phonetics
Sound
Teenagers
Training
auditory
training
music
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Summary:Fundamental changes in brain structure and function during adolescence are well-characterized, but the extent to which experience modulates adolescent neurodevelopment is not. Musical experience provides an ideal case for examining this question because the influence of music training begun early in life is wellknown. We investigated the effects of in-school music training, previously shown to enhance auditory skills, versus another inschool training program that did not focus on development of auditory skills (active control). We tested adolescents on neural responses to sound and language skills before they entered high school (pretraining) and again 3 y later. Here, we show that inschool music training begun in high school prolongs the stability of subcortical sound processing and accelerates maturation of cortical auditory responses. Although phonological processing improved in both the music training and active control groups, the enhancement was greater in adolescents who underwent music training. Thus, music training initiated as late as adolescence can enhance neural processing of sound and confer benefits for language skills. These results establish the potential for experience-driven brain plasticity during adolescence and demonstrate that in-school programs can engender these changes.
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Edited by Paula Tallal, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, and accepted by the Editorial Board June 19, 2015 (received for review March 17, 2015)
Author contributions: A.T.T., J.K., and N.K. designed research; A.T.T. and J.K. performed research; A.T.T. and J.K. analyzed data; and A.T.T., J.K., and N.K. wrote the paper.
1Present address: Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, England.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1505114112