Whether playing a musical instrument to allow a person of advanced age to be cheerful and responsive to extraneous stimuli? Scientists from the School of speech pathology and audiology University of Montreal (University of Montrtal School of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology), Canada, believe that this is true. In the new work, they proved that people who know how to play any musical instrument, actively respond to sensory stimuli than those who are never interested in music. The results are published in the journal “Brain and Cognition”, writes umj.com.ua.
In the study, scientists compared reaction times to different stimuli have 16 people playing musical instruments (8 pianists, violinist, 3, 2 drummer, 2 guitarist, and a harpist and violist), and 19 participants who do not know how to do this. All the musicians, except for one violinist knew how to play several instruments. For work participants were placed in a room with no extraneous noises, one hand they put on the computer mouse, the other on a small box which is periodically vibrated. The researchers asked them to press the button on the manipulator, when they hear the music or feel the vibration. Each of these stimuli was repeated 180 times.
Scientists have noticed that any stimulus faster was the reaction of the participants, who were able to play musical instruments. They noted that these people began to study music at the age of 3-10 years and studied at least 7 years. The education level of all subjects was the same. In future work the researchers hope to determine how related the sound and tactile sensation, and to complement existing data on specific processes that occur in the brain of musicians. In addition, they want to determine how playing a musical instrument changes the functional state of organs of the senses, which is unrelated to auditory stimuli.
The author, Dr. Simon Landry (Simon Landry) believes that on the basis of the obtained results is possible to develop a strategy aimed at preventing the development of some age-related changes. He noted that the more they know about the influence of music on basic sensory processes, the greater the potential use of music in front of them is revealed. In particular, assessing the results obtained, scientists can recommend lessons on musical instruments for people with slow reaction to stimuli. It is known that with age, the indicator is deteriorating, perhaps the elderly should be regularly to make music.
