Musical training shapes the areas of the brain responsible for synchronizing rhythm and behavior

November 23, 2018

According to a naturalist study of the world-class drum corps, drummers and brass players are better able to judge the timing of visual stimuli than members of the color guard. Blue coats Posted in in Euro. This counter-intuitive discovery extends previous research demonstrating superior sensory learning and superior memory resulting from the cross-training of audio and visual brain systems.

During a five-week intensive spring training program, Nestor Matthews and colleagues compared the abilities of young adults Blue coat percussionists, brass players and color guards to detect the order of the moving stimuli imitating the visual displays of the color guard. This design of the study allowed researchers to study the effect of musical and visual training on visual timing, while controlling the experience and skill level.

The results reveal that percussionists perform the task more accurately and faster than brass players, who do better than the color guard. Combined with the results of research on neuroimaging and brain stimulation, this model suggests that music training shapes the cortical areas responsible for synchronizing rhythm and behavior.