When a child receives musical instruction, their brains are asked to complete certain tasks, that involve hearing, motor, cognition, emotion and social skills.

Music lessons improve brain connections in healthy children and may be useful in children with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers say.

After nine months of musical training in healthy children, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) showed brain fibre growth and new connections in areas of the brain associated with autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the researchers found.

“The musical experience at an early age can contribute to a better brain development, optimising the creation and establishment of neural networks as well as the process of myelination and stimulating committed tracts in the frontal regions, especially the minor forceps,” Pilar Dies-Suarez, chief radiologist at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gomez in Mexico City, said.

Dies-Suarez will present the findings this week in Chicago during the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. The minor forceps is a fibre bundle which connects the lateral and medial surfaces of the frontal lobes and extends through the anterior end of the corpus callosum.

“The minor forceps has been studied in recent years because of their involvement in disorders and/or pathologies related to the frontal cortex. It has been observed that the minor forceps is involved in ADHD,” Dies-Suarez said.

Musical learning can be an area of opportunity

The researchers studied 23 healthy five- and six-year-olds without a history of sensory, perception or neurological disorders. None of the children had been trained in any artistic discipline in the past.

Before and after nine months of musical training, they underwent DTI magnetic resonance imaging, which identifies microstructural changes in the brain’s white matter.

After music lessons, DTI results showed an increase in fractional anisotrophy and axon fibre length in different areas of the brain, most notably in the minor forceps.

“When a child receives musical instruction, their brains are asked to complete certain tasks,” Dies-Suarez said in a statement.

“These tasks involve hearing, motor, cognition, emotion and social skills, which seem to activate these different brain areas.

“These results may have occurred because of the need to create more connections between the two hemispheres of the brain.”

Musical learning can be an area of opportunity from the viewpoint of neuroplastic effects, stimulating axonal growth, especially in the minor forceps, Dies-Suarez said.

With further study and replication, the researchers say theirfindings might help in creating targeted strategies to intervene in disorders like autism and ADHD.