Study reveals playing piano can help boost brain processing power and alleviate feelings of sadness
Music has always found its way to bring comfort to our ears and, in a sense, it makes us feel a whole lot better, mood and brain wise. And a new study published by researchers at the University of Bath proves this when they found out that playing a musical instrument, specifically a piano, can bring about a positive impact on a person's brain and overall mood.
Published in the academic journal Natural Scientific Reports, the study revealed that playing a musical instrument can improve individuals' recognition of audio-visual changes in the environment and help reduce depression, anxiety, and stress. This multisensory process encompasses driving a car and crossing the road to finding someone in a crowd or simply watching television.
The randomized control study comprised 31 adults who were segregated into three categories: those who will undergo music training, listen to music, and complete their homework. Individuals with no prior musical experience were set to complete weekly one-hour piano sessions, the others were tasked to listen to music or accomplish their work.
Each music training session had two segments: the first 20 minutes was focused on finger exercise while the last 40 minutes comprised learning songs from the ABRSM 2017-2018 piano grade one exam list.
A week after starting the piano lessons, researchers found that these individuals' ability to process multisensory information improved. Their audio-visual processing became more accurate when it comes to a multitude of tasks.
Apart from this, participants also manifest reduced depression, anxiety, and stress scores after they've finished their 11 weeks of piano training, suggesting that music training could be beneficial for those who are facing mental health difficulties.
Dr. Karin Petrini, cognitive psychologist and music specialist from the University of Bath's Department of Psychology, explains, “Learning to play an instrument like the piano is a complex task: it requires a musician to read a score, generate movements and monitor the auditory and tactile feedback to adjust their further actions. In scientific terms, the process couples visual with auditory cues and results in a multisensory training for individuals.”
“The findings from our study suggest that this has a significant, positive impact on how the brain processes audio-visual information even in adulthood when brain plasticity is reduced,” she further said.
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