Music and Brain Plasticity: How Sounds Trigger Neurogenerative Adaptations

Abstract

This contribution describes how music can trigger plastic changes in the brain. We elaborate on the concept of neuroplasticity by focussing on three major topics: the ontogenetic scale of musical development, the phenomenon of neuroplasticity as the outcome of interactions with the sounds and a short survey of clinical and therapeutic applications. First, a distinction is made between two scales of description: the larger evolutionary scale (phylogeny) and the scale of individual development (ontogeny). In this sense, listeners are not constrained by a static dispositional machinery, but they can be considered as dynamical systems that are able to adapt themselves in answer to the solicitations of a challenging environment. Second, the neuroplastic changes are considered both from a structural and functional level of adaptation, with a special focus on the recent findings from network science. The neural activity of the medial regions of the brain seems to become more synchronised when listening to music as compared to rest, and these changes become permanent in individuals such as musicians with year-long musical practice. As such, the question is raised as to the clinical and therapeutic applications of music as a trigger for enhancing the functionality of the brain, both in normal and impaired people.

The Influence of Sound-Based Interventions on Motor Behavior After Stroke: A Systematic Review

“…This suggests that music interventions induce brain reorganization processes and enhance neuronal co-activation and functional coupling of the auditory–motor network after stroke (9, 13, 14). Since music listening is related to several motor–cognitive functions such as memory, attention, semantic processing, and motor function (15), it may be an appropriate tool for neurological rehabilitation. The aims of this study are to investigate the effects of SBI on motor behaviors through a qualitative biomechanical analysis and to discern the underlying mechanisms of clinical improvements (i.e., distinguish between true recovery and compensation).…”

Proposta de estimulação musical para crianças deficientes auditivas: relato de casos

“…Thus, the musical functions are complex activities that stimulate various regions of the brain, being interesting tasks for the (re) habilitation, because they can stimulate the brain in both its hemispheres, including the region of speech. The pertinent literature has reinforced that musical training has an influence on structural changes in the auditory and motor areas of the brain, thereby favoring brain plasticity (25,26,27). In turn, musical stimulation encompasses all these characteristics, which are related to pitch discrimination, timbre, semantic identification of melodies, as well as temporal and sequential processing of sounds (8,21,22).…”

Extended musicking, extended mind, extended agency. Notes on the third wave

“…Training to learn the skills associated with a new instrument entails a variety of neural and bodily changes (e.g., Gruhn & Rauscher, 2008). There is evidence that these changes, especially large scale-neural changes, may also have an impact in other areas of cognition (see Hyde et al, 2009;Patel, 2008;Reybrouck, Vuust, & Brattico, 2018a). These sorts of changes are ripe for explanation by the dynamic principle, at the same time as they put pressure on deriving a full-account from the likes of parity or complementarity alone.…”