Study finds musical training may focus attention and reduce anxiety in ch... https://www.thestrad.com/study-finds-musical-training-may-focus-attent...

Study �nds musical training may

focus attention and reduce
anxiety in children
5 JANUARY 2015

Psychiatrists at the University of Vermont College of Medicine monitored 232 children

A new study conducted by

psychiatrists at the University of
Vermont College of Medicine
has found that playing a musical
instrument may help children
overcome anxiety, focus
attention and control emotions.
The �ndings, published in the
Journal of American Academy
of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, follow a study of 232
children aged between six and
18 using MRI scanning and
behavioural testing.

In a previous study, researchers

found that thickening or thinning
of the brain cortex corresponded
with anxiety and depression,
attention problems, aggression,
and behaviour control issues.
The current study set out to see
whether positive activity, such as
instrumental lessons, might also
have an effect.

It was found that instrumental

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Study finds musical training may focus attention and reduce anxiety in ch... https://www.thestrad.com/study-finds-musical-training-may-focus-attent...

playing impacted upon motor

areas and behaviour-regulating
areas of the brain. Music
practice in�uenced cortical
thickness related to ‘executive
functioning, including working
memory, attention control, as
well as organisation and planning for the future’. In children with musical backgrounds the brain was affected 'in
areas that play a critical role in inhibitory control, as well as aspects of emotion processing’.

Led by Dr James Hudziak, professor of psychiatry and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth and
Families, the study noted that three quarters of US high school students ‘rarely or never’ take extracurricular
lessons in music or the arts. ‘Such statistics, when taken in the context of our present neuroimaging results
underscore the vital importance of �nding new and innovative ways to make music training more widely available to
youths, beginning in childhood.’

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