Credit: Leipold et al., JNeurosci 2021
The brains of musicians have stronger structural and functional connections compared to those of non-musicians, regardless of innate pitch ability, according to new research from
JNeurosci.
Years of musical training shape the brain in dramatic ways. A minority of musicians with Mozart and Michael Jackson in their ranks also possess absolute pitch, the ability to identify a tone without a reference. But, it remains unclear how this ability impacts the brain.
In the biggest sample to date, Leipold et al. compared the brains of professional musicians, some with absolute pitch and some without, to non-musicians. To the team s surprise, there were no strong differences between the brains of musicians with and without absolute pitch ability; instead absolute pitch may shape the brain in more subtle ways. Compared to non-musicians, both types of musicians had stronger functional connectivity the synchronized activity of brain regions in th