Music could play key role in neurological therapy, research shows
Copyright © 1998 Nando Media
Copyright © 1998 The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (November 9, 1998 08:21 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com)
-- Rhythm, melody and harmony stimulate several areas of the brain,
suggesting that music could be used to help repair everything from
damaged speech to damaged emotions, researchers say.
Classical music training also may enlarge parts of the brain,
researchers said Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting.
Scientists have long wanted to know how the brain responds to sound and
rhythm, how musical studies affect brain wiring and how the brains of
the
musically talented differ from those of the nonmusical.
"Undeniably, there is a biology of music," said Mark Jude Tramo, a
neurobiologist at Harvard University Medical School. "Music is
biologically
part of human life, as music is artistically a part of human life."
Gottfried Schlaug of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston
reported that the cerebellum is larger in classically trained male
musicians
than in men who don't play a musical instrument.
Schlaug and fellow researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to
compare the brains of 32 right-handed musicians with 24 right-handed men
who did not play instruments. They found a 5 percent difference in the
volume of the cerebellum.
"Finding evidence like this is sort of remarkable. The structure seems
to
adapt" to early years of training and practice, Schlaug said. "Musicians
are
not just born with these differences."
There were no similar findings in women, though only a small number were
studied.
Anne Blood, a researcher in neuropsychology at the Montreal Neurological
Institute and McGill University in Canada, examined emotional responses
to
music among those with untrained ears.
Brain imaging scans showed that different regions of the brain respond
to
pleasant, harmonious musical sounds and to musical sounds that clash,
she said. And brain regions that turned on during emotional responses to
music were different from those previously observed.
As the music increased in unpleasantness, an area on the right side of
the
brain important to emotion -- the parahippocampal gyrus -- became
active.
On the other hand, as the music increased in pleasantness, other areas
on
the left and right side that control emotions were activated.
"Some day this research will help us to understand how different types
of
music can help in different kinds of neurological disorders," Blood
said.
In another study, Lawrence Parsons and colleagues at the University of
Texas in San Antonio found that an area on the right side of the brain
interprets written musical notes and passages. This corresponds to an
area in the left brain known to interpret written letters and words.
Eight right-handed faculty conductors were scanned as they red and
listened to the score of an unfamiliar Bach chorale. They were
instructed to
point out errors in rhythm, harmony or melody.
"All three tasks activated both left and right brain areas," Parsons
said. All
three elements also strongly activated the cerebellum -- a small region
of
the brain responsible for posture, balance, coordination and fine motor
movements.
Parsons said the understanding of links between musical language and
spoken language could help in speech and language rehabilitation.
Doctors already use a technique called melodic intonation therapy that
teaches stroke patients to sing rather than speak what they want to
convey.
In some cases they can recover their speech.
By JANE E. ALLEN, AP Science Writer
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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