Music and Neuroscience and its Intersection on Cognitive Function

    Music has been known to induce many positive effects on the brain, and there is ample evidence to show that musical training begets neuroplasticity both structurally and functionally. But what about the potential impact it could have on other cognitive skills, such as reading or attention? A recent study dives into this topic, where musical training might enhance the development of certain areas in the brain relative to reading and cognitive function. 

    Pantaleo et al. explored the influence of musical training on reading in 60 right-handed healthy individuals: 30 professional musicians and 30 controls. The participants were separated into categories of being relatively good or poor readers based on reading speed. EEG/ERPs were recorded during a task requiring the detection of notes or letters. They found that musicians showed higher fluency for word, non-word, and text reading tasks as well as faster note and word detection. Similarly, good readers had greater neural responses than poor readers. Neuroplastic changes in the brain were also found -- activation was increased in both musicians and good readers in the occipito/temporal cortex bilaterally during music and word reading tasks, suggesting specialization of a right-sided reading area associated with enhanced reading proficiency. They also found that activation in poor readers and controls was reduced in the left fusiform gyrus and the attentional/ocular shifting regions compared to musicians. 

    A second study by Clayton et al. investigated the 'cocktail party', which relates to how cognition impacts performance in challenging listening environments (i.e. a party with noise in the background, hence the name). Musicians and non-musicians were tested in a spatial hearing task, where speech targets were presented in the context of an intelligible speech masker. Results showed that musicians outperformed nonmusicians in spatial hearing abilities. Interestingly, the data supports that musicians had stronger working memory at the auditory level, implying that musical skills and cognitive aspects are related. This research also found relations between spatial hearing performance and measurements of cognitive flexibility and inhibition control, which show that cognitive factors are important in navigating complex auditory scenes. 

    The studies indicate that musical literacy, especially if gained at an early age, might sculpt reading and auditory functions in the brain. Ultimately, there seem to be intricate relations between music and cognition, and the potential advantages of musical education are evident. Although there is much more research needed to understand influences on brain plasticity,  these studies emphasize that music may not just be an art form but also a key to cognitive growth and development. 

Pantaleo, M. M., Arcuri, G., Manfredi, M., & Proverbio, A. M. (2024). Music literacy improves reading skills via bilateral orthographic development. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 3506.

Clayton KK, Swaminathan J, Yazdanbakhsh A, Zuk J, Patel AD, Kidd G, Jr (2016). Executive Function, Visual Attention and the Cocktail Party Problem in Musicians and Non-Musicians. PLoS ONE 11(7).