[Psymus] FW: [evol-psych] If music and sweet poetry agree. . .

31 October 2002 Today's News Stories News Archive

If music and sweet poetry agree. . .
30 October 2002 22:06 GMT
by Julie Clayton

Professional musicians use a part of the brain previously known only
for its role in language, reveals a new study. The finding, to be
published next month, adds to a growing body of evidence that music
and language skills go hand in hand. Musicians have an increased
volume of grey matter in the Broca's area, no matter which
instruments they play, report University of Liverpool neuroscientists
Vanessa Sluming and Neil Roberts. What appears to influence this the
most is the number of years devoted to musical training - at least
for musicians under the age of 50.

According to the researchers, music and language share many common
features in expressive output. Those aspects of musical performance
that are established in symphony orchestra musicians may be
especially relevant for understanding the neural basis of language,
they add.

The new findings, published in the November issue of
Neuroimaging, "fit very nicely with an emerging view that musicians
process music like an additional language," said Thomas Elbert,
professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Konstanz,
Germany. Elbert has also investigated the activity of the motor
cortex during musical performance.

Full text http://news.bmn.com/news/story?day=021031&story=1