Interesting research

I've reently discovered a great site called www.cognews.com. On this site there was a press release of some very interesting research on how the brain responds to music from other cultures. Let me share this with you, my readers: Subjects brains were observed through an fMRI while listening to music from different cultures. Results showed that brain activation was the same, regardless of cultural bias of the music; although, there were some differences in ability to remember certain kinds of music and brain activation varied based on musical training.
The researchers found similarities in brain activity when the musicians and untrained listeners were exposed to the Western classical and traditional Chinese musical excerpts. All subjects showed significant clusters of activation in the brain regions called the right transverse temporal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus. However, some differences did emerge based on musical training. The musicians exhibited significantly greater activity in the right superior temporal gyrus when listening to both types of music. In addition, the musicians also showed significant brain activity in the right middle frontal gyrus when listening to Western music and in the left middle frontal gyrus when hearing the Chinese music. These findings support the idea that formal training influences patterns of brain activity in response to culturally familiar and unfamiliar music, according to the researchers.By contrast, brain activity was similar among all subjects when comparing English speech to Cantonese. There was significant brain activity in the left insula and lesser activity in the left superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus that was not present while listening to Cantonese.

The Infant Brain

Did you know that the infant brain can be affected before birth by playing classical music and singing to the unborn child? It's true. The brain is the only organ that can actually be positively affected during pregnancy. The other organs, lungs, stomachs, hearts, ovaries, etc., are pretty much on a genetically pre-determined path and there's little you can do in a positive way to affect the. Research indicates that when the developing fetus hears highly organized music or when the mother sings to him, more neural connections are created in the brain which creates a greater, more complex neural infrastructure. Once baby is born, you have to maintain that rich neural infrastructure with lots of interaction. If you're pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, start learning your songs and buying your CD's. Let me know if I can help!