Learning music early builds up brain's reserves against dementia
Childhood music lessons could pay off in protecting the brain against dementia decades later, even in those who don't continue to play, researchers are learning. In one study, children who played instruments performed better on memory tests even decades later.
Neuroscientists in Illinois tested for delays in how the brain responds to fast-changing elements of speech. They found four to 14 years of music training early in life was associated with faster processing, 40 years after the music training
stopped. None of the subjects reported practising an instrument, performing or instruction after age 25.
"The elderly who knew music or they were a musician at one point in their life, they were protected from this normal decay in the discrimination of the sounds,"said Dr. Luis Fornazzari of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, who has also studied musicians' memory.
"The brain becomes absolutely trained in the discrimination of the sounds, the human voice and the different instruments, the different notes and that lasts."
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/1.2489475
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