Abstract
Your brain undergoes constant changes throughout your growth and aging process. Throughout your life, you will experience a variety of events, and your brain has an amazing ability to respond to these events in various ways. For example, when you learn new things, such as playing a new game or learning a new language, your brain forms new connections, and these connections become stronger as you practice or use what you have learned. Experiences from your youth can have a lasting impact on your brain in adulthood. In this article, we will discuss how playing musical instruments and creating visual art can change your brain, and how these changes can affect your brain in adulthood. We will also introduce some examples of techniques currently used by scientists to visualize brain changes.
01Changing Brain
Have you noticed that when you learn something new—like riding a bicycle, it initially feels difficult, but with continuous practice, it becomes easier? This is because when you learn new things, your brain is producing new cells called neurons, and establishing new connections between neurons. Through repeated practice, these connections become stronger, making communication between neurons easier, which in turn helps you perform better.
The brain has the ability to create new neurons and strengthen connections, a capability known as neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is an important part of brain development, but the brain can continue to change throughout your life, allowing you to learn new things even in old age. This article will provide two examples—participating in music and art activities—to illustrate how experiences can change the brain (Figure 1).
Figure 1 – Playing music or creating art can help the brain create new neurons and strengthen connections between neurons (Image created via Canva.com).
02Playing Music
When you play an instrument, many abilities must work together to produce beautiful music. For instance, your hands may be doing different actions, you may need to read sheet music, while also listening to the tempo or volume of the performance, coordinating with others, and ignoring distractions that could lead to mistakes. Therefore, playing an instrument requires many brain functions, such as executive functions. Executive functions help us set goals, learn, focus attention, and control our behavior.
Repeated musical practice places high demands on the brain regions that control executive functions, leading to changes in these brain areas. This is important because it is these brain regions and the functions they control that help you navigate daily life— the more you use and exercise them, the stronger and more efficient these neural connections become. Playing music not only changes brain function, but it can also alter the physical structure of the brain. Researchers have found that musicians who have practiced and performed for many years show structural differences in brain areas related to auditory, motor, and visual skills compared to non-musicians. These structural differences may be associated with better skills—for example, musicians may have stronger auditory skills than non-musicians [1].
03Creating Art
Visual art, especially painting based on observation, is another creative skill that requires executive functions. Painting from observation means you need to draw what you are looking at, such as your favorite cartoon character or pet. In this process, you need to use your working memory— a specific type of executive function— to keep track of what you are drawing. Another important executive function is the ability to shift attention between the whole and the details. When sketching, you first outline the shape, then gradually add details while ensuring that these details match the outline. Studies comparing visual artists and non-visual artists show that visual artists have a stronger ability to store visual information in working memory [2]. Additionally, college art students can process what they see faster and more accurately than non-art students [3]. This may be because many of the brain areas used during the painting process are the same as those required for focusing attention in the classroom.
04Music, Art, and the Aging Brain
Have you noticed that you can quickly adapt to changes in your environment or new technologies without much thought? While young people easily adapt to new technologies, it often requires more effort for older adults. This is because our brains change as we age. The brain matures or stops growing in a person’s 20s to 30s, at which point executive functions and memory are at their peak. In older adults, executive functions and memory begin to show age-related changes and gradually become less optimal. This can make certain tasks more challenging, such as responding quickly or remembering to buy a birthday cake for someone [4]. However, some individuals may experience these changes earlier or later than others. Our genes and experiences in daily life may lead to differences in these brain changes. In particular, lifelong engagement in certain activities may protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline [5]. Among these, playing instruments and creating art are beneficial activities for brain health. Researchers have found that older adults with a musical career of over 10 years have better executive functions compared to non-musicians [6, 7]. Older musicians also have better auditory skills than non-musicians. For example, they find it easier to hear conversations in noisy environments [8]. Such results suggest that musical training and practice in youth can have a lasting impact on your brain in adulthood, potentially buffering against the negative effects of brain aging. Why is this? Scientists believe that over time, practicing music may lead to permanent physical changes in brain structure that affect brain performance in adulthood, even if music is not practiced as frequently later in life. Visual arts and painting creation have also been highlighted as methods to improve memory and executive functions, which contribute to healthy aging. For instance, older adults participating in art classes in their 60s show increased connectivity between brain regions responsible for working memory [9]. Additionally, using painting as a memory strategy can improve memory in older adults [10]. Although this field is still developing, current research suggests that spending time creating visual art can lead to lasting changes in the brain. Art training may have a more significant impact in early education, as young children’s brains are more malleable.
05How Do We Know What the Brain Is Doing?
Scientists use various techniques to observe what our brains look like and how they work when performing specific tasks. Common techniques include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
MRI scanners allow scientists to collect images of soft tissues inside our bodies, such as our brains (Figure 2A). MRI scanners use powerful magnets and radio waves to generate detailed 3D images, allowing scientists to capture the exact shape and structure of the brain. For example, scientists can use MRI to verify whether there are structural differences in brain areas of individuals who have played music or engaged in artistic creation for many years.
Figure 2 – (A) MRI scanner.
• (B) fMRI images of the brain surface (top) and brain “slices” (bottom) while completing two memory-related tasks. In one task, participants were asked to listen to two melodies and determine if they were the same. The verbal task was similar but used words. Colors represent the brain regions activated while completing these tasks. Red indicates activation of the brain during the music task. Blue indicates activation during the verbal task. Yellow indicates brain regions used for both music and verbal tasks (Image copyright: A Getty Images; B [11]).
If we want to know which brain regions are particularly active when doing something, like moving a hand or using working memory, how do we do that? The same MRI scanner can perform fMRI scans, allowing researchers to see the differences between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood in the brain. Whenever your brain is busy with a task, oxygenated blood flows to those areas to help the neurons work. In contrast, less active brain regions require less oxygenated blood because they are not working as hard. During an fMRI scan, a person lies in the MRI scanner and completes a task, such as viewing images or performing mental arithmetic. The scanner’s computer creates a color-coded map of brain activity, which can identify active brain regions during specific tasks or whether there are differences between individuals performing the same task (Figure 2B). For example, fMRI can be used to observe differences in brain activation between musicians and non-musicians when listening to pleasant and unpleasant sounds [12]. fMRI can also show which brain regions are active after creating art. This technology has been used to study the connectivity of brain regions between older adults creating art and those appreciating art in galleries [9].
Scientists can also use a special technique to detect electrical activity in the brain. The brain is an electrical system that works by continuously sending signals across networks of neurons.Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method that measures the electrical activity of large numbers of neurons while you complete tasks using a cap with electrodes placed on your head (Figure 3).
Figure 3 – For EEG, a person wears a cap with electrodes that can record the electrical signals of the brain.
• The waveforms on the background screen show what EEG recordings might look like. Each line represents activity from different electrodes (Image from an image obtained via Canva.com).
EEG records the electrical activity of the brain as a series of waveforms. The size and shape of these waveforms indicate different brain states. EEG is very good at capturing small signals and providing precise information about what is happening in the brain at the moment—within fractions of a second. However, compared to fMRI, EEG is less precise in telling scientists exactly where something is happening in the brain. Nevertheless, in art research, EEG has also shown differences between artists and non-artists when completing tasks that require executive functions. This research indicates that when painting from memory, artists are better able to focus on the task than non-artists. Therefore, artists complete tasks faster and can capture more details [13].
06Conclusion
In summary, music and art can influence your brain function, and engaging in music and art activities can lead to changes in your brain that can last into adulthood. The more you practice playing music or creating art, the more you can shape your brain and exercise important mental skills, such as your executive functions. Exercising your executive functions through music and art can help you learn and assist in your daily life, ensuring that your brain remains healthy as you age. Find an activity you enjoy, whether it’s music, painting, weaving, or dancing, as it can enrich your life in many ways. Now you know that the next time you play music or paint, these activities are not just for entertainment; they can also change your brain!
GlossaryGlossary
Neuron: A brain cell that can send information back and forth between the brain and the body.
Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to create new neurons and strengthen connections between neurons based on experience.
Executive Functions: A set of mental skills that allow a person to effectively set goals, learn, pay attention, control their behavior, and manage their daily life.
Working Memory: The ability to actively hold or manipulate information in your mind, such as solving a math problem in your head.
Age-Related Cognitive Decline: The decline of certain cognitive functions that occurs with aging.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): A technique that uses magnetic resonance scanners to create images of the inside of objects, such as the brain.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): A technique that uses magnetic resonance scanners to measure changes in blood flow, which work using magnetic fields and radio waves.
Electroencephalography (EEG): A method of measuring electrical activity in the brain using electrodes placed on the head.
ReferencesReferences
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CitationCitation
Weaver AN, Vodyanyk M and Jaeggi SM (2024) How Music and Art Tune and Sculpt Your Brain’s Architecture. Front. Young Minds. 12:1151914. doi: 10.3389/frym.2023.1151914
Authors
Alexandria N. Weaver
Mariya Vodyanyk
Susanne M. Jaeggi
Young Reviewers
University of California Irvine Brain Explorer Academy ages 8–12
Editor
Michael Yassa
Scientific Advisor
Manuella Oliveira Yassa
Translation Produced by
Center for the Study of Brain and Mind DevelopmentCenter for Developmental Population Neuroscience
Chinese Translation & Editing
Zhu Yan
Reviewers
Zuo Xinian Zhang LeiEND