Do Musicians Have Better Brains?

[Hardrock69]

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/05/18/do-musicians-have-better-brains/

A new study argues that musicians have more highly developed brains than the rest of us. The research relates the concept of high mind development to the potential to become really good at something:

New research shows that musicians’ brains are highly developed in a way that makes the musicians alert, interested in learning, disposed to see the whole picture, calm, and playful. The same traits have previously been found among world-class athletes, top-level managers, and individuals who practice transcendental meditation.

Using EEG‘s to measure brain activity, researchers concluded the following about the brains of musicians:

They have well-coordinated frontal lobes. Our frontal lobes are what we use for higher brain functions, such as planning and logical thinking. Another characteristic is that activity at a certain frequency, so-called alpha waves, dominates. Alpha waves occur when the brain puts together details into wholes. Yet another EEG measure shows that individuals with high mind brain development use their brain resources economically. They are alert and ready for action when it is functional to be so, but they are relaxed and adopt a wait-and-see attitude when that is functional.

Musicians also exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning and had more frequent “peak experiences”– intense moments of happiness and feelings of transcending limitations.

Abstract here:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WD0-52NC4T1-1&_user=646880&_coverDate=04%2F19%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000034838&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=646880&md5=d54ee45772b74cf7cf6513026eb322e7&searchtype=a

Summary here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110505083421.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

[chefcraig]

Umm...no. The entire thrust of this thesis can be disproved with a single, static image:

[Seshmeister]

You are setting the musician bar pretty low there Chef.

[chefcraig]

Yeah, I guess I could have used a picture of such Nobel laureates as Nikki Sixx, Fred Durst, Scott Sapp or that fat, goofy bassist in W.A.S.P.

[Nitro Express]

I think by musician the study means people who can actually read music. Not people who blast three chords through a mountain of amplification while stoned off their ass.

[ThrillsNSpills]

Satan wishes Ace was a Christian.

[jhale667]

Satan wishes Ace was a Christian.

He did renounce any connection past or present to DisgrACE, IIRC...perhaps he'll show up and reiterate that here.

[jhale667]

Maybe not so much "different" in form, but definitely function...

Coincidentally, I was going to post this article in a separate thread on studies showing immersion in isolation tanks (think "Altered States" for those old enough to remember) actually increases musical ability. Not necessarily creativity, but scientists postulate the increase in technique would facilitae increased creativity by default... hey, why not post it here, too?

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture-society/flotation-isolation-boosts-musicians-skill-level-31182/

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Everybody knows the standard answer. But newly published research suggests that, after you’ve labored all day in the practice room, you might want to spend an hour in a flotation tank.

Oshin Vartanian of the University of Toronto and Peter Suedfeld of the University of British Columbia report floating in an Epsom salt solution one hour per week for four weeks boosted the technical ability of a group of college music students. This suggests such periods of minimal sensory stimulation can improve performers’ perceptual-motor coordination.

Don’t start filling up the bathtub, however: This experiment, described in the journal Music and Medicine, featured a level of sensory deprivation achievable only in a specially designed tank. The device was invented in the 1950s by neuroscientist John Lilly; in the years since, its use has been linked to improved sports performance and heightened levels of creativity.

But would it work for budding be-boppers? To answer that question, the researchers conducted an experiment using 13 students enrolled in an intermediate-level jazz improvisation course at Vancouver Community College.

Eight of the students — six men and two women — engaged in flotation sessions for four consecutive weeks. They spent an hour each week in a fiberglass shell, floating in a solution of Epsom salts and skin-temperature water. They were in the dark, and outside sounds were muffled.

All the participants — including the other five musicians who comprise the comparison group — made two five-minute-long recordings in which they freely improvised. The first took place one week before the flotation sessions began; the second, one week after the sessions concluded. Each session was rated by the instructor (who was unaware which students were undergoing the treatments) on five dimensions: improvisation, creativity, expressiveness, technical ability and overall quality.

The researchers found “a significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups on technical ability, but not on any other dimension,” the researchers write. Thanks to this enhanced skill level, those who had floated “had significantly higher grades in the jazz improvisation class than the comparison group.”

Vartanian and Suedfeld concede this was a small sample. But they note that, based on their initial recordings, the instructor rated the treatment and comparison groups essentially equal on all five dimensions. Since “The two groups can be considered equivalent in terms of motivation and baseline ability,” the difference in their ability was very likely the result of the flotation sessions.

So why didn’t the treatment group’s creativity scores also rise? The researchers suspect this reflects the one-week lag time between the final flotation session and the second recording.

That was purposeful on their part: They wanted to gauge long-lasting rather than immediate effects. (Previous research found increased creativity in university students after floating sessions measured their abilities immediately after they left the tank and dried off.)

Of course, for a musician, technical expertise can inspire increased creativity, as it gives one the confidence to take risks. So perhaps this boost in skill will lead to higher levels of originality in the long run.

In any event, the results suggest this technique holds considerable promise for musicians in general and jazz artists in particular. As Vartanian and Suedfeld note, flotation isolation “has been shown to induce a state of relaxed alertness, concentration and reduced stress.”

Which is exactly where you want to be when the bandleader gives his cue.

[Seshmeister]

Satan wishes Ace was a Christian.

I don't think Ace ever understood my point that he couldn't be a Satan worshipper and an atheist...

[Nitro Express]

Music is self discovery. It's discipline. It's memorization. It's coordination. It's feel. It's order. It's rebellion. It's escape. Music is just too broad of a term because it includes so many elements.

[chefcraig]

Coincidentally, I was going to post this article in a separate thread on studies showing immersion in isolation tanks (think "Altered States" for those old enough to remember) actually increases musical ability...

Something tells me this could be a very, very bad idea.

Eddie Jessup: It wasnt an ischemic attack! It wasnt a seizure. You
saw the x-rays, Mason. There was clearly something anterior to the
larynx that looked like a laryngal sack. Thats strictly simian! I
obviously regressed! To some quasi-simian creature.
Mason Parrish: Im gonna show these to someone who can read them
right, cause youre reading them wrong, thats all there is to it.
Because no one is gonna tell me you de-differentiated your goddamn
genetic structure for four goddamn hours and then reconstitued! Im
a professor of endocrinology at the Harvard Medical School. Im an
attending physician at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital! Im a
contributing editor to the American Journal of Endocrinology and a
I am a fellow and vice-president of the Eastern Association of
Endocrinologists and president of the Journal Club! And Im not
going to listen to any more of your kabbalistic, quantum, friggin
dumb limbo mumbo jumbo! Im gonna show these to a radiologist!

Mason Parrish: It looks to me like the architecture is slightly
abnormal.
Dr. Wissenschaft: Somewhat? This guy's a fucking gorilla!

[jhale667]

I don't think Ace ever understood my point that he couldn't be a Satan worshipper and an atheist...

Some can't grasp the concept...had the exact same discussion with a former co-worker of Stephen Hawkings' latest remarks about the afterlife (or lack thereof) - she's like "I wish he'd just admit that he hates God and loves Satan", and I'm like "Dummy, he doesn't believe in EITHER..." and she says "Yes he does" and sends me a link to the article where he talks about how if Aliens ever visit here we will suffer the same fate as Native Americans after the pligrims showed up...which I STILL can't get her to explain how THAT somehow proves he "believes in Satan"...I mean, wtf?

Back on topic, I've also seen a study using scans of musician's brains showing there's increased activity in the area of the brain that governs creativity, more so than the "logic" center...

[jhale667]

Something tells me this could be a very, very bad idea.

Eddie Jessup: It wasnt an ischemic attack! It wasnt a seizure. You
saw the x-rays, Mason. There was clearly something anterior to the
larynx that looked like a laryngal sack. Thats strictly simian! I
obviously regressed! To some quasi-simian creature.
Mason Parrish: Im gonna show these to someone who can read them
right, cause youre reading them wrong, thats all there is to it.
Because no one is gonna tell me you de-differentiated your goddamn
genetic structure for four goddamn hours and then reconstitued! Im
a professor of endocrinology at the Harvard Medical School. Im an
attending physician at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital! Im a
contributing editor to the American Journal of Endocrinology and a
I am a fellow and vice-president of the Eastern Association of
Endocrinologists and president of the Journal Club! And Im not
going to listen to any more of your kabbalistic, quantum, friggin
dumb limbo mumbo jumbo! Im gonna show these to a radiologist!

Mason Parrish: It looks to me like the architecture is slightly
abnormal.
Dr. Wissenschaft: Somewhat? This guy's a fucking gorilla!

"Altered States" kicked ass...

[chefcraig]

"Altered States" kicked ass...

Indeed, it did.

What blew me away is the same guy that played Mason in the film (Charles Haid) went on to portray Renko on Hill Street Blues. Believe it or not, I recently saw him listed as director for an episode of FX's Sons of Anarchy.

[kwame k]

I don't think Ace ever understood my point that he couldn't be a Satan worshipper and an atheist...

Sadly, comprehension and abstract thought were two things Ace could never grasp