Children & Adolescents

The sensory system is highly involved in instrument playing and many of its regions are primary, meaning they mature at an earlier age. Therefore, noticeable changes can appear here more quickly. 

1. Somatosensory cortex - faster maturation, increased grey matter --> improved visual & spatial skills, or 'coordination'. 

2. Primary auditory cortex - increased activation in response to sounds, increased grey matter --> improved 'listening'. 

3. Secondary auditory cortex - increased activation in response to sounds, faster maturation --> increased control over attention up to age 13, becomes similar by age 16 (when it reaches full maturation in non-musical adolescence). 

4. Corpus callosum - increased grey matter --> faster communication between the sensory (and motor) areas across the brain to understand more aspects of the sound. 

This evidence suggests that musical children may be more attentive to sounds and so practically better listeners. 

The motor system is highly involved in musical instrument playing and so is the first to be affected - 'near-transfer' effects. As the primary motor cortex is one of the first regions to mature, early music training can have a big impact. 

1 Primary Motor Cortex – accelerated maturation, increased grey matter --> improves control, or 'coordination', of the body (hand and finger movement especially) 

2 Premotor Cortex – accelerated maturation --> improves planning and organisation of movements 

3 Basal Ganglia – no change (may be because the basal ganglia takes longer to develop) 

4 Corpus Callosum – increase grey matter --> increased coordination of left and right sides of the body  

5 Cerebellum – no change (may be because the cerebellum takes longer to develop) 

This evidence suggests that musical children may have improved physical coordination, particularly in the hands and fingers (musically-related areas). However, maturation of the basal ganglia and cerebellum later in development may allow more fine tuning of these skills. 

Simple musical training involves the sensory and motor regions, whereas the cognitive regions join with more complex practice. The main parts of the cognitive system (mentioned below) also mature a lot later in neurodevelopment as they are all highly specialised. Therefore, smaller, but nevertheless noticeable, changes appear in childhood cognition. 

1 Prefrontal Cortex – increased activation, accelerated maturation --> EFs: 

- Inhibition - improved, larger later rewards favoured over short term ones 

- Working memory - improved language skills and task engagement with short-term memory

- Cognitive flexibility - no change (cognitive flexibility is the last EF to mature, developing into late adolescence) 

2 Broca’s area – stronger activation --> improved language skills  

3 Basal Ganglia – no change (the basal ganglia matures later) 

4 Cingulate Cortex – no change (the cingulate cortex matures later) 

5 Corpus Callosum – increased grey matter --> 'faster' thinking 

6 Hippocampus – increased activation, increased grey matter --> improved long-term memory 

This evidence suggests musical children to have increased attentional control and language skills which some have linked to increased academic performance and higher IQs. The favouring of larger later rewards may transfer to more manageable classroom behaviour. 

The socio-emotional system is not directly involved in musical training, therefore any change here is a far-transfer effect and takes longer to appear. However, significant changes have been seen in the emotional presentation of musical children: 

1 Prefrontal Cortex – increased activation, accelerated maturation --> improved impulse regulation and conflict resolution 

2 Cingulate Cortex – no change (matures later) 

3 Basal Ganglia – no change (matures later) 

4 Hippocampus – increased activation, increased grey matter --> increased emotional processing and regulation 

This evidence suggests musical children may have increased self-awareness and interpersonal skills, however these may benefit from further regulation once the more specialised brain parts mature. 

The behavioural system is the application of the sensory, motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional systems. Therefore, the increased function of those will all improve a child's behavioural skills. A few of the main features are highlighted below: 

1 Prefrontal Cortex – increased activation, accelerated maturation --> improved impulse control and emotional regulation 

2 Cingulate Cortex – no change 

3 Basal Ganglia – no change