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Introduction One of the major cues that help in auditory stream segregation is spectral profiling. Musicians are trained to perceive a fine structural variation in the acoustic stimuli and have enhanced temporal perception and speech perception in noise. Objective To analyze the differences in spectral profile thresholds in musicians and nonmusicians. Methods The spectral profile analysis threshold was compared between 2 groups (musicians and nonmusicians) in the age range between 15 and 30 years old. The stimuli had 5 harmonics, all at the same amplitude (f0 = 330 Hz, mi4). The third (variable tone) has a similar harmonic structure; however, the amplitude of the third harmonic component was higher, producing a different timbre in comparison with the standards. The subject had to identify the odd timbre tone. The testing was performed at 60 dB HL in a sound-treated room. Results The results of the study showed that the profile analysis thresholds were significantly better in musicians compared with nonmusicians. The result of the study also showed that the profile analysis thresholds were better with an increase in the duration of music training. Thus, improved auditory processing in musicians could have resulted in a better profile analysis threshold. Conclusions Auditory stream segregation was found to be better in musicians compared with nonmusicians, and the performance improved with an increase in several years of training. However, further studies are essential on a larger group with more variables for validation of the results.

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Abstract Introduction One of the major cues that help in auditory stream segregation is spectral profiling. Musicians are trained to perceive a fine structural variation in the acoustic stimuli and have enhanced temporal perception and speech perception in noise. Objective To analyze the differences in spectral profile thresholds in musicians and nonmusicians. Methods The spectral profile analysis threshold was compared between 2 groups (musicians and nonmusicians) in the age range between 15 and 30 years old. The stimuli had 5 harmonics, all at the same amplitude (f0 = 330 Hz, mi4). The third (variable tone) has a similar harmonic structure; however, the amplitude of the third harmonic component was higher, producing a different timbre in comparison with the standards. The subject had to identify the odd timbre tone. The testing was performed at 60 dB HL in a sound-treated room. Results The results of the study showed that the profile analysis thresholds were significantly better in musicians compared with nonmusicians. The result of the study also showed that the profile analysis thresholds were better with an increase in the duration of music training. Thus, improved auditory processing in musicians could have resulted in a better profile analysis threshold. Conclusions Auditory stream segregation was found to be better in musicians compared with nonmusicians, and the performance improved with an increase in several years of training. However, further studies are essential on a larger group with more variables for validation of the results.

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Attention and working memory (WM) are core components of executive functions, and they can be enhanced by training. One activity that has shown to improve executive functions is musical training, but the brain networks underlying these improvements are not well known. We aimed to identify, using functional MRI (fMRI), these networks in children who regularly learn and play a musical instrument. Girls and boys aged 10-13 with and without musical training completed an attention and WM task while their brain activity was measured with fMRI. Participants were presented with a pair of bimodal stimuli (auditory and visual) and were asked to pay attention only to the auditory, only to the visual, or to both at the same time. The stimuli were afterward tested with a memory task in order to confirm attention allocation. Both groups had higher accuracy on items that they were instructed to attend, but musicians had an overall better performance on both memory tasks across attention conditions. In line with this, musicians showed higher activation than controls in cognitive control regions such as the fronto-parietal control network during all encoding phases. In addition, facilitated encoding of auditory stimuli in musicians was positively correlated with years of training and higher activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus, structures that support the phonological loop. Taken together, our results elucidate the neural dynamics that underlie improved bimodal attention and WM of musically trained children and contribute new knowledge to this model of brain plasticity.

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Studies suggest that musical training enhances spatial-temporal reasoning and leads to greater learning of mathematical concepts. The aim of this prospective study was to verify the efficacy of a Non-Instrumental Musical Training (NIMT) on the Numerical Cognition systems in children with low achievement in math. For this purpose, we examined, with a cluster analysis, whether children with low scores on Numerical Cognition would be grouped in the same cluster at pre and post-NIMT. Participants were primary school children divided into two groups according to their scores on an Arithmetic test. Results with a specialized battery of Numerical Cognition revealed improvements for Cluster 2 (children with low achievement in math) especially for number production capacity compared to normative data. Besides, the number of children with low scores in Numerical Cognition decreased at post-NIMT. These findings suggest that NIMT enhances Numerical Cognition and seems to be a useful tool for rehabilitation of children with low achievement in math.

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Many investigations have reported structural, functional, and cognitive changes in the brains of musicians, which occur as a result of many years of musical practice. We aimed to investigate if intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improved visual memory ability. Musicians and non-musicians, who were comparable in age, gender, and education, were submitted to a visual memory test. The test consisted of the presentation of four sets of stimuli, each one containing eight figures to be memorized. Each set was followed by individual figures and the subject was required to indicate if each figure was or was not present in the memorized set, by pressing the corresponding keys. We divided the test in two parts, in which the stimuli had greater or reduced semantic coding. Overall, musicians showed better performance on reaction times, but not on accuracy. An additional analysis revealed no significant interaction between group and any part of the test in the prediction of the outcomes. When simple reaction time was included as covariate, no significant difference between groups was found on reaction times. In the group of musicians, we found some significant correlations between variables related to musical practice and performance in the visual memory test. In summary, our data provide no evidence of enhanced visual memory ability in musicians, since there was no difference in accuracy between groups. Our results suggest that performance of musicians in the visual memory test may be associated with better sensorimotor integration, since although they have presented shorter reaction times, such effect disappeared when taken in consideration the simple reaction time test. However, given existing evidence of associations between simple reaction time and cognitive function, their performance in the visual memory test could also be related to enhanced visual attention ability, as has been suggested by previous studies, but this hypothesis deserves more investigation.

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A lo largo de este trabajo, se revisaron las principales investigaciones que dan cuenta del efecto del entrenamiento musical tanto del cerebro adulto como en desarrollo. La música realiza demandas únicas al sistema nervioso. Esto llamó la atención de muchos investigadores provocando, en los últimos años, un incremento en las investigaciones en relación a la temática. Este aumento se vio beneficiado por el surgimiento de nuevas técnicas de neuroimagen y que posiciona a la música como una herramienta de investigación de la cognición humana y los mecanismos cerebrales superiores. La percepción y la producción musical son funciones particulares del cerebro humano que dependen de una amplia red neural córtico-subcortical distribuida en ambos hemisferios cerebrales y cerebelo. Los hallazgos en relación al tema indicarían que se encuentran diferencias tanto en la estructura como en el funcionamiento de los cerebros de adultos y de niños debido al entrenamiento musical, y que esto tiene más relevancia que las propiedades innatas de los sujetos. Existe una plasticidad cerebral que se debe a procesos adaptativos fruto de la estimulación ambiental.

The main research about the effect of musical training in adult and childhood brain was revised in this work. The music realizes unique demands to our nervous system. This call the attention of several researchers causing, in the past years, an enhancement of the exploration about this topic; this increment was beneft for the emergence of new neuroimaging techniques, the music positioned as an investigation tool of human cognition and superior brain mechanisms. The musical perception and production are specific functions of the human brain that depend of a wide cortical-subcortical neural net distributed across both hemi-spheres and cerebellum. The main findings in this area indicated structural and functional differences in the adult and child brain due to musical training, and this is more relevant that innate properties of the subject. There is brain plasticity due to adaptive processes product of the environmental stimulation.

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A memória operacional e a atividade musical ativam áreas encefálicas recíprocas e homólogas, contudo não há evidências se o treino musical pode ampliar a capacidade da memória operacional. Objetivo: Avaliar o desempenho do treino musical sob a memória operacional em crianças de 9 e 10 anos de idade, praticantes de treino musical e sem experiência musical. PARTICIPANTES: Crianças Iniciantes (n=20), Veteranas (n=20) e Grupo Controle (n=20). MATERIAIS: Instrumentos computadorizados para avaliação da memória operacional. RESULTADOS: Crianças veteranas apresentaram melhores pontuações no BCPR (Teste de Repetição de Pseudopalavras para crianças brasileiras) e em subtestes da AWMA (Avaliação Automatizada da Memória Operacional). CONCLUSÃO: O treino musical parece ter contribuído para o desenvolvimento da memória operacional em crianças veteranas no programa de treino musical.

Working memory and musical activity activate reciprocal and homologues brain areas. However, there is a lack of evidence if musical training can amplify the working memory span. Objective: To assess the performance of musical training on working memory in children aged 9 and 10 years old who regularly have musical training or with no musical training at all. PARTICIPANTS: Beginners (n=20), Veterans (n=20) and a Control Group (n=20). MATERIALS: Computerized instruments to assess working memory. RESULTS: Veteran children presented higher scores in BCPR (Brazilian Children's Test of Pseudoword Repetition) and in specific tasks of AWMA (Automated Working Memory Assessment). CONCLUSION: Musical training seems to have contributed for working memory development in veteran children under musical training programs.

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A memória operacional e a atividade musical ativam áreas encefálicas recíprocas e homólogas, contudo não há evidências se o treino musical pode ampliar a capacidade da memória operacional. Objetivo: Avaliar o desempenho do treino musical sob a memória operacional em crianças de 9 e 10 anos de idade, praticantes de treino musical e sem experiência musical. PARTICIPANTES: Crianças Iniciantes (n=20), Veteranas (n=20) e Grupo Controle (n=20). MATERIAIS: Instrumentos computadorizados para avaliação da memória operacional. RESULTADOS: Crianças veteranas apresentaram melhores pontuações no BCPR (Teste de Repetição de Pseudopalavras para crianças brasileiras) e em subtestes da AWMA (Avaliação Automatizada da Memória Operacional). CONCLUSÃO: O treino musical parece ter contribuído para o desenvolvimento da memória operacional em crianças veteranas no programa de treino musical.(AU)

Working memory and musical activity activate reciprocal and homologues brain areas. However, there is a lack of evidence if musical training can amplify the working memory span. Objective: To assess the performance of musical training on working memory in children aged 9 and 10 years old who regularly have musical training or with no musical training at all. PARTICIPANTS: Beginners (n=20), Veterans (n=20) and a Control Group (n=20). MATERIALS: Computerized instruments to assess working memory. RESULTS: Veteran children presented higher scores in BCPR (Brazilian Children's Test of Pseudoword Repetition) and in specific tasks of AWMA (Automated Working Memory Assessment). CONCLUSION: Musical training seems to have contributed for working memory development in veteran children under musical training programs.(AU)

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The influence of music on the human brain has been recently investigated in numerous studies. Several investigations have shown that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes emerge as a result of long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. Musicians can be considered ideal cases for studies on brain adaptation, due to their unique and intensive training experiences. This article presents a review of recent findings showing positive effects of musical training on non-musical cognitive abilities, which probably reflect plastic changes in brains of musicians.

A influência da música no cérebro humano tem sido alvo de vários estudos nos últimos anos. Muitos trabalhos têm demonstrado que processos neuroplásticos estruturais e funcionais surgem no cérebro como resultado de treinamento musical prolongado, os quais podem produzir diferenças cognitivas entre músicos e não-músicos. Os músicos podem ser considerados como casos ideais para investigações relacionadas à adaptação cerebral, devido às suas experiências únicas e intensivas de treinamento. Este artigo apresenta uma revisão das recentes descobertas que mostram efeitos positivos do treinamento musical em capacidades cognitivas não-musicais, o que poderia refletir a ocorrência de alterações plásticas nos cérebros de músicos.

Assuntos

RESUMO

The influence of music on the human brain has been recently investigated in numerous studies. Several investigations have shown that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes emerge as a result of long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. Musicians can be considered ideal cases for studies on brain adaptation, due to their unique and intensive training experiences. This article presents a review of recent findings showing positive effects of musical training on non-musical cognitive abilities, which probably reflect plastic changes in brains of musicians.

A influência da música no cérebro humano tem sido alvo de vários estudos nos últimos anos. Muitos trabalhos têm demonstrado que processos neuroplásticos estruturais e funcionais surgem no cérebro como resultado de treinamento musical prolongado, os quais podem produzir diferenças cognitivas entre músicos e não-músicos. Os músicos podem ser considerados como casos ideais para investigações relacionadas à adaptação cerebral, devido às suas experiências únicas e intensivas de treinamento. Este artigo apresenta uma revisão das recentes descobertas que mostram efeitos positivos do treinamento musical em capacidades cognitivas não-musicais, o que poderia refletir a ocorrência de alterações plásticas nos cérebros de músicos.