Effects of musical training on brain development.

The auditory cortex builds representations of the auditory environment based on the characteristics of its input. I will present EEG and MEG data showing that, compared to non-musicians, adult musicians have enhanced responses to isolated musical tones, melodic sequences, and simultaneous melodies. Whether these differences are the result of musical experience is explored through training studies in adults and longitudinal studies comparing children engaged in musical lessons with children engaged in other activities. It will be shown that auditory sensory representations undergo a protracted developmental trajectory, not reaching adult states until well into the teenage years. Furthermore, the effects of musical experience can be seen in children as young as 4–5 years of age for both sensory and attentional components of the event-related potential. High-frequency oscillatory EEG activity (induced gamma band), which is associated with executive control, attention, and memory, emerges after 1 year of music lessons in children of this age, but is not seen in children who are not taking music lessons. Thus any benefits of musical training for other cognitive domains is likely mediated by the development of superior executive functioning.