The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve cognitive performance, especially in spatial reasoning tasks, benefiting elementary school students.

Mozart's music improves mental performance, aids learning, and enhances brain activity, making it a potential tool for improving students' performance.

Music without lyrics and moderate noise levels can boost productivity and creativity, making them beneficial for learning environments.

Familiar music improves attention span and can help students stay focused during lessons.

Music training affects visual working memory and can improve cognitive abilities, benefiting students' cognitive development.

Music training may improve spatial reasoning skills by benefiting visual working memory.

Playing music, especially in old age, improves brain health, memory, and cognitive function.

Playing music throughout life improves brain health and supports healthy cognitive aging.

A study found that music increased gray matter, raised brain flexibility, and slowed cognitive decline in older adults, with a 6% improvement in working memory.

The Mozart Effect's impact varies by task, with some studies showing cognitive improvements and others finding no effect.

Learning instruments can enhance cognitive abilities, vision, and sound processing, while reducing depression, anxiety, and stress.

Instrument learning improves brain plasticity, task accuracy, and information processing, helping students enhance their cognitive skills.

Executive function, including planning and task switching, matures at 18 and can be tracked with growth charts to help identify mental illness and students needing extra support.

Musical tempo affects cognitive processing speed, with slow tempo worsening visuospatial processing and fast tempo having no effect.

Music helps prevent working memory loss and cognitive decline by stimulating gray matter production.

Active listening and music can benefit cognitive development and healthy aging.

Playing an instrument is linked to better brain health, improving memory and executive function, benefiting both older adults and students.

Playing an instrument or singing in later life has greater benefits for brain health, partly due to social factors.

Music stimulates grey matter production and enhances brain plasticity, improving cognitive skills and preventing decline.

Music and piano classes can improve information processing and enhance cognitive development in students.

Music education reduces depression, anxiety, and stress, and improves overall well-being.

Classical music aids concentration and information absorption, and may reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment by 64%.

Music stimulates the brain, promoting dopamine and serotonin production, which can improve cognitive skills and overall well-being.

Music reduces stress and anxiety, relieving depression, and its benefits can last for hours or days, promoting students' overall well-being.

Playing an instrument slows cognitive decline and brings potential brain benefits, particularly for those aged 62-78 and students.

Playing instruments helps maintain memory and cognitive ability in the elderly and can prevent dementia, making it a worthwhile activity to encourage in students.

Playing piano or electronic piano helps maintain memory, problem-solving ability, and supports cognitive development.

Singing benefits cognitive health, making it a worthwhile activity to encourage in students.

Playing instruments can prevent brain deterioration and improve cognitive performance.

The Mozart Effect improves cognitive performance by creating a stimulating environment for learning.

Music, including Mozart's, activates the brain's reward center, motivating learning and enhancing cognitive performance and creativity.

The Mozart Effect improves mental performance, attention, and brain activity, making it valuable for students and individuals seeking cognitive improvement.

Playing music, such as Mozart's, can slow brain aging, increase gray matter, and improve working memory.

Music listening slows brain aging, prevents working memory loss, and stimulates gray matter production, promoting healthy aging.

Research suggests the Mozart Effect may not benefit people with mild cognitive impairment universally.

The Mozart Effect and music therapy have been found to improve cognitive function and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in older adults.

Mozart's music helps people with dementia recover memories and improve mood.

The Mozart Effect has significant implications for educational and cognitive training programs.

The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve cognitive performance, especially spatial reasoning.

Music training affects visual working memory as brain regions overlap for visual and musical memory.

Musical training indirectly affects visual working memory and is also facilitated by strong working memory.

Music training is not directly linked to cognitive faculties, but it benefits musical working memory.

Mozart's music reduces epileptic seizure activity, but its impact on spatial reasoning and cognitive mechanisms is unclear.

Musical training increases blood flow in the brain's left hemisphere, where music and language tasks show similar brain activity patterns.

Music and language share common brain pathways for processing communication.

Musical training affects language processing areas and can alter music perception in just 30 minutes.

Music training in childhood can boost brain function in adulthood due to shared brain patterns with language processing.

The Silc1 lncRNA regulates spatial learning in the hippocampus of mice.

The hippocampus highly expresses Silc1 and Sox11, which are involved in neuron regeneration and spatial memory.

Neuroplasticity allows the brain to change and adapt with experience and training.

The posterior hippocampus, which stores spatial representation, can expand with navigation skills and improve with physical activity.

New impressions, environments, and neurointerfaces can form new neural connections and influence brain activity.

Meditation and mindfulness practices can change brain structure and reduce stress response.

Regular practice, not classical music, can aid those with mild cognitive impairment.

High-arousal music may positively impact memory in emotional regulators and those with mild cognitive impairment, with effects varying by individual.

The brain processes time using spatial clues, requiring more effort than processing space.

Memorizing time sequences requires additional brain effort and involves different neuronal mechanisms than storing space information.

Theta frequency range is used to store sequence information, particularly in the posterior regions of the right hemisphere.

The brain's anterior regions store spatial information via interhemispheric connections.

Understanding brain areas can

The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve cognitive performance, especially in spatial reasoning tasks, benefiting elementary school students.

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Inicio » English » Inspiration » The Sound of Success: Ideas in Music for Concentration and Productivity

The Sound of Success: Ideas in Music for Concentration and Productivity

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Does music help you concentrate? Since we spend a lot of time in front of computers trying to finish our work, wouldn’t it be nice to listen to some of music to help concentrate? Well, music lovers, it seems like Mozart and Beethoven could actually help you with your productivity. Beethoven once said: «Music is where the spirit lives, thinks and invents.»

This relationship between music and the brain is an area that has been intensively explored in research. Many studies point to the ability of music to help employees be more productive and help children in their learning process more effectively. University research in France found that students who listened to music for an hour while reading, scored significantly higher on a questionnaire compared to a group of students who read without music.

Your attention span is better when listening to music

It seems that music for concentration puts students in a heightened emotional state, so that they can be more receptive to information. «It is possible that music causes a change in the learning environment and influenced students’ motivation to stay focused while reading, which led to better performance on a multiple-choice questionnaire,» concluded the french research team in a recent article.

But before you start playing any type, you have to find the music that works better for the type of work you are trying to carry do. For example, the classic from the Baroque period is said to do wonders for brain activity when you are studying or writing. But not all classical music is created equal, so dramatic changes and complicated fugue changes may not be as conducive as a smooth piano piece. So if you have to choose a composer, we would say Mozart. There seems to be evidence that Mozart’s improves mental performance: it is called «The Mozart Effect”.

Build a harmonious space

If you don’t like classical, the discreet sound found in ambient music may work well for you instead. What is the purpose of this if you are not at the airport, you ask? Well, for creative purposes, it’s better than emptiness and silence. According to one of its pioneers, musician Brian Eno: “Background music must be able to accommodate many levels of attention when listening, without forcing one in particular. It must be as ignorable as it is interesting ”.

In fact, researchers have shown that a moderate level of noise, such as that found in the environment, can actually get creative juices flowing. Music with especially low-lows or especially high-highs should be avoided. Certain types of jazz instrumental melodies can also get your brain working.

Music without lyrics

In general, if you are doing work that requires writing, you should avoid listening to music with lyrics as the words in a song are especially destructive to your concentration. Since hearing words activates the brain’s language center, attempting to perform tasks related to another language would be like trying to have a conversation while someone else is speaking to you. But, if you are a cartoonist, and you don’t deal with sentence construction, hearing letters may not have the same effect.

Finally, studies show that listening to music you’re already familiar with may be better if you really need to focus. New songs take you into the unknown and your brain will want to listen closely to see what comes next. With the music you are familiar with you know what to expect, so it doesn’t distract you from your work. And if you like the tune you’re listening to try not to whistle it while you work, as that will only distract you.

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Mozart's music improves mental performance, aids learning, and enhances brain activity, making it a potential tool for improving students' performance.

Music without lyrics and moderate noise levels can boost productivity and creativity, making them beneficial for learning environments.

Familiar music improves attention span and can help students stay focused during lessons.

Music training affects visual working memory and can improve cognitive abilities, benefiting students' cognitive development.

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Content: Finding New Links Between Music Training and Cognitive Ability
Science and Technology
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Researchers have discovered that music training affects visual working memory, and a study found that areas of the brain may share a common component that affects both visual and musical working memory.
A research team from several universities around the world has asked whether music can improve cognitive abilities, and new scientific methods have been used to try to find the answer.
The research was led by scientists from the University of Music, Theatre and Media in Hanover, Germany, Goldsmith University in London, UK, Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt and the University of Cambridge, UK, and the results of their study have just been published in the journal Music Perception.
Working memory is one of the crucial components of all cognitive faculties, the ability to retain information in an individual ’ s memory and make use of it without external aids, such as pen and paper.
According to research, it is still unclear whether working memory has the same function for all regions.
The brain or if it varies from one to the other, that is, whether the areas and abilities the brain uses for music, images, language, and math are the same or different.
In their study, the scientists examined a total of 148 people, through six different tests, comparing the musical and visual work memories of the research participants with their level of musical training.
Previous studies of the relationship between musical training and general cognitive abilities have tended to ignore musical memory, says lead author Peter Harrison: “What we have done is investigate these three factors using a ‘ causal modelling ’ approach, a relatively new scientific method that makes it possible to identify causal relationships under specific circumstances. ”
The results show that if musical training affects visual working memory, it does so through the "inflection" of musical working memory, in other words through its core benefits of musical working memory, musical training can have a positive effect on visual working memory as well.
The results show that if musical training affects visual working memory, it does so through the "inflection" of musical working memory.
Image in the public domain
The study showed that generally strong working memory may make musical training easier.
The team ’ s findings suggest that brain regions share a common component that affects both visual and musical working memory, yet it seems unlikely that there is a direct causal link between music training and general cognitive faculties.
Additional long-term studies comparing individuals with and without musical training in terms of their development of musical and cognitive abilities may further support these findings.
Source: Neuroscience
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Music training may improve spatial reasoning skills by benefiting visual working memory.

Playing music, especially in old age, improves brain health, memory, and cognitive function.

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Named the unexpected benefits of passion for playing musical instruments
IJGP: Playing Musical Instruments Promotes Healthy Brain Aging
According to a new study conducted by scientists from the University of Exeter (UK), playing music throughout life is associated with improving brain health in old age.
The findings are published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (IJGP).
The researchers analyzed data from more than 1,000 adults over the age of 40 who completed an online questionnaire to participate in the study.
The team gathered information about the participants ’ singing and playing skills and assessed their levels of interaction with music throughout their lives.
The volunteers were also asked to take cognitive assessment tests to determine whether playing music helped maintain mental acuity in old age.
The results showed that playing musical instruments, especially the piano, is associated with improved memory and the ability to solve complex problems, known as the executive function.
Maintaining the ability to play in old age contributes to maintaining clarity of mind.
Singing can also ensure healthy aging of the brain.
Scientists have suggested that this positive effect is associated with the need to constantly maintain communication with other choristers and members of the musical group.
Scientists have found out why we enjoy music.
What do you think?
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Playing music throughout life improves brain health and supports healthy cognitive aging.

A study found that music increased gray matter, raised brain flexibility, and slowed cognitive decline in older adults, with a 6% improvement in working memory.

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Content: Thursday 27-04-2023
Study: Playing and hearing music slows down brain aging
A new study has found that playing and listening to music helps slow the deterioration of cognitive function in older adults, as music increased gray matter in the brain and raised its flexibility, but did not stop atrophy due to aging.
The study, conducted at the University of Geneva, lasted six months, playing music five days a week for 30 minutes.
The results were published by Medical News Today.
The study showed a 6% improvement in the working memory of participants in cognitive tests.
The researchers attributed this to an increase in the cerebellum, the region associated with working memory.
A total of 132 participants aged 62 to 78 participated in the experiment.
None of them had a similar rate of musical training in their lives.
They were all in good physical and mental health and did not rely on hearing aids.
They underwent MRI brain scans and measured the level of memory before and after the experiment.
The study found that multimedia activities, including listening to music, provide the necessary exercises for multiple brain regions to increase flexibility that reorganize the connections and pathways of neurons in the brain.
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The Mozart Effect's impact varies by task, with some studies showing cognitive improvements and others finding no effect.

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2022-12-23 11: 30: 00
Emotional Disturbance ｜ Study: Learning Instruments to Reduce Depression and Anti-Stress
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Many parents will arrange for their children to learn musical instruments such as piano or violin to increase their chances of success.
New research shows that learning to play musical instruments not only enhances the brain ’ s ability to process vision and sound, but also helps reduce depression and anxiety, and reduces the risk of emotional distress.
Enhanced ability to process sensory information
The University of Bath invited 31 adults to take part in the study. They were randomly divided into a learning instrument group, a listening music group and a control group.
The researchers found that after a few weeks of class, the beginners of these instruments were significantly more able to process multi-sensory information such as sight and hearing, while performing other tasks became more accurate.
Improved Cognition Reduces Stress
The study also showed that after 11 weeks of instrumental lessons, participants ’ cognitive abilities improved significantly, and their scores for depression, anxiety and stress declined. Even though participants ’ brain plasticity was already low, learning to play an instrument still had a positive impact on the brain ’ s ability to process information.
The results have been published in Scientific Reports.
Multi-sensory training
It is believed that learning to play an instrument can help people with psychological or emotional problems, but further research is needed to confirm that learning to play an instrument can help people with psychological or emotional problems. And...
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Learning instruments can enhance cognitive abilities, vision, and sound processing, while reducing depression, anxiety, and stress.

Instrument learning improves brain plasticity, task accuracy, and information processing, helping students enhance their cognitive skills.

Executive function, including planning and task switching, matures at 18 and can be tracked with growth charts to help identify mental illness and students needing extra support.

Title:

Content: A groundbreaking study published in Nature Communications offers new insights into executive function maturity in adolescents.
Executive function refers to a set of cognitive skills that enable individuals to plan, switch between tasks, focus, and resist distractions.
According to the study, executive function typically reaches maturity at the age of 18.
The research involved analyzing data from more than 10,000 participants across four different data sets, and providing a comprehensive chart of cognitive development in adolescents.
The findings have significant implications for parents, teachers, psychiatrists, and possibly the judicial system in determining the boundaries of adolescence.
Beatrice Luna, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said: "When I talk to parents, many of them say: 'It is impossible for my 18-year-old son to be a full-grown adult!'. Medication.
"The ability to use executive function reliably improves with age and, at least in the laboratory, matures by the age of 18."
Prior to this study, the timeline of adolescence was less clear compared to the well-documented childhood stages.
The complexity of developmental processes associated with puberty and the lack of tools to analyze complex datasets have hampered previous attempts to map adolescent brain development.
Lead author Brendan Turvo Clemens explained: “In our study, we wanted to present a consensus, not just a hunch. ”
“This is the developmental science that meets big data.
We are using tools that were not available to researchers until recently.
By providing replicable growth charts of executive function across various tasks and data sets, this research opens the door to studying the effects of therapeutic and pharmacological interventions on growth parameters.
Moreover, understanding the typical timeline of executive function maturity can promote early diagnosis of mental illness such as schizophrenia, which often appears during adolescence.
Questions and Answers
What is executive function?
Executive function refers to a set of cognitive skills that enable an individual to plan, switch between tasks, focus, resist distractions, and regulate emotions.
How do I do the study?
The study analyzed data from more than 10,000 participants across four different data sets.
The researchers collected 23 distinct measures of executive function and used mathematical modeling to track changes over time.
When does the executive function usually mature?
According to the study, executive function typically reaches maturity at the age of 18.
What are the implications of this research?
The findings of this study have implications for parents, teachers, psychiatrists, and possibly the judicial system.
Understanding the typical timeline of executive function maturity can help identify aberrations and facilitate early diagnosis of mental illness.
How can this research affect therapeutic and pharmacological interventions?
By providing growth charts for executive function development, this research allows researchers to track how therapeutic and pharmacological interventions affect developmental milestones in adolescents.

Musical tempo affects cognitive processing speed, with slow tempo worsening visuospatial processing and fast tempo having no effect.

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Journal Article

Citation

Lin HM, Kuo SH, Mai TP. Front. Psychol. 2023; 14: e998460.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2023.998460

PMID

36910785

PMCID

PMC9998681

Abstract

The effects of musical tempo on cognitive processing speed were investigated, and the mediating effect of arousal was empirically tested. In an experiment, participants were divided into fast tempo, slow tempo, and no-music groups and completed three cognitive processing speed tests measuring motor speed, visuospatial processing speed, and linguistic processing speed. The results indicated a significant effect of musical tempo on processing speed and task performance in all three tasks. The slow-tempo group exhibited slower processing speed and worse performance than the no-music group in all three tasks. The fast tempo group displayed no significant difference in processing speed or performance compared with the no-music group. In the linguistic processing task, those who listened to slow-tempo music had better accuracy than those in the other conditions. Arousal did not mediate the relationship between musical tempo and cognitive processing speed.

Language: en

Keywords

arousal; accuracy; cognitive processing speed; musical tempo; task performance

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Music helps prevent working memory loss and cognitive decline by stimulating gray matter production.

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Content: Music will help: scientists told how to slow down the aging of the brain
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The brain will not rejuvenate, but aging will slow down
Normal aging in humans inevitably leads to a decrease in cognitive abilities in humans, but as it turned out, this process can be slowed down.
According to Neuro Science, scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) came to the conclusion that this will help the occupation or listening to music.
As you know, during life, our brain changes and adapts to new conditions, but with age, its “plasticity ” decreases.
In addition, there is a process known as "brain atrophy" when it loses gray matter.
This leads to the fact that there is a decline in "working memory", that is, the ability to memorize information and skills associated with its use worsens.
However, a new study has shown that playing music helps prevent loss of working memory and stimulates the production of gray matter in the areas of the brain that are responsible for it.
The study was conducted among 132 healthy pensioners aged 62 to 78 years.
One of the conditions for participation was that they did not take music lessons for more than six months in their lives.
Participants were divided into two groups, regardless of their motivation to learn to play instruments.
The second group was given active listening lessons – that is, recognition of instruments and analysis of properties in a wide range of musical styles.
"Neuroimaging revealed an increase in gray matter in four brain regions involved in high-level cognitive functions in all participants, including the cerebellum regions involved in working memory.
Their productivity increased by 6%, and this result was directly related to the plasticity of the cerebellum, ” said one of the authors of the study Clara James after six months of the experiment.
At the same time, scientists note that music does not contribute to the rejuvenation of the brain, but only prevents its aging.
However, even this is enough to recommend making music a part of the policy of healthy aging.
As previously reported, scientists from Harvard Medical School said that they have found a way to reverse aging using only chemical cocktails, without the use of gene therapy.

Active listening and music can benefit cognitive development and healthy aging.

Playing an instrument is linked to better brain health, improving memory and executive function, benefiting both older adults and students.

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Playing an instrument is linked to better brain health, reveals study

A new study shows that playing an instrument is especially good for older adults as it is associated with improved memory and executive function

The study showed that continuing to play into later life is linked to greater benefits. (Pexels)

It’s well-known that practicing or listening to music can reduce stress and improve mood. Now, a new study has found that playing an instrument is especially good for older adults as it is associated with better brain health.

For this study, researchers from the University of Exeter reviewed over 25,000 people’s musical experience and lifetime exposure to music, as well as results of cognitive testing, to find out whether playing instruments or singing helps to keep the brain sharp in later life, the university’s press statement explained.

Also read: How music can prevent cognitive decline

The findings, published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, showed that playing a musical instrument, particularly the piano, is associated with improved memory and executive function—the ability to solve complex tasks. Notably, continuing to play into later life is linked to greater benefits.

The study showed that singing also led to better brain health. However, this could also be because of the social factors of being part of a choir or group. In the statement, Amy Corbett, one of the study authors said the findings show that “promoting musical education would be a valuable part of public health initiatives to promote a protective lifestyle for brain health, as would encouraging older adults to return to music in later life.”

Corbett added that this approach could enable older adults to proactively reduce their risk and promote brain health.

Previous studies have also shown that engaging with music can improve the quality of life of older adults. For instance, a study published in NeuroImage: Reports in April 2023, discovered that music can help alter cognitive decline in healthy older adults by stimulating the production of grey matter. With age, brain plasticity, a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain, decreases. But the study showed that practicing and listening to music can enhance brain plasticity and cognitive reserve.

A 2021 study conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) and Unity Health Toronto found similar associations. The findings, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, showed that repeated listening to personally meaningful music leads to beneficial brain plasticity in patients with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease.

Also read: Listening to your favourite songs can reduce pain: Study

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Playing an instrument or singing in later life has greater benefits for brain health, partly due to social factors.

Music stimulates grey matter production and enhances brain plasticity, improving cognitive skills and preventing decline.

Music and piano classes can improve information processing and enhance cognitive development in students.

Title:

Content: Scientists from the University of Bath have discovered the effect of playing the piano on cognitive abilities.
It turned out that classes on this musical instrument contribute to improving the processing of information by the brain and raise mood.
The findings of the work are reported in the journal Scientific Reports, reports Day.Az with reference to Gazeta.ru.
During the study, the researchers followed 31 adult participants for 11 weeks, who were divided into two groups: the first was engaged in music, and the second only listened to it.
The subjects in the first group were taught to play the piano for only one hour a week, and previously they had no musical experience.
Volunteers from the second group at this time listened to music or used it for homework.
The authors noticed that a few weeks after the start of the experiment, people ’ s ability to process multisensory information (visual and audio) improved significantly.
In practice, this is useful for almost any type of activity, from driving a car to finding someone in a crowd or watching TV.
Thanks to music education, audiovisual processing of information has become more accurate in performing other tasks.
Those who received piano lessons performed better in appropriate trials, in which they were asked to determine whether sound and visual "events" occurred simultaneously.
In addition, such participants had reduced manifestations of depression, anxiety and stress.
Experts believe that music classes can be useful for people with mental disorders, so in the future they plan to conduct more research on this topic.

Music education reduces depression, anxiety, and stress, and improves overall well-being.

Classical music aids concentration and information absorption, and may reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment by 64%.

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The doctor ’ s words / When the mentally retarded person meets the familiar sound
In 2023, an estimated 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer ’ s disease.
Dementia in the elderly is an incurable disease. It is easy for patients to become isolated, because they will feel isolated and helpless about their own uselessness, and they are used to being alone in order to avoid embarrassment.
In the latter stages, they often lose the ability to communicate with people around them.
It is very painful for the patients themselves and the caregivers and family members who care for them.
In recent years, it has been found that music therapy can intervene and make up for this lack of progress.
It also increases the patient ’ s engagement with the surrounding environment and reduces many neurological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, and unexplained tantrums.
In other words, when people with dementia are unable to connect with their loved ones, that is, when they are unable to speak their language, music is the last bridge to interact with each other.
Q1: Do people with dementia have special feelings about music?
A1: According to nearly a decade of research by the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University, it has been found that even though people with dementia lose language and other memories, memories related to music often remain in the brain.
This is because areas of the brain involved in musical memory (e.g., the cerebellum) are not affected until late in the disease process.
Familiar music can help people with dementia recover certain aspects of their memory, make them feel calm, and greatly improve their mood.
Q2: Why do people with dementia remember their favorite songs?
A2: Although suffering from severe dementia, it means that a person has very little memory of their past.
Even if you can ’ t remember your son ’ s name, familiar songs that you ’ ve heard and sung will always come to mind.
Q3: In addition to music, is listening to the radio good for elderly people with dementia?
A3: In fact, the radio can not only provide good music, but also play emotional dialogue, which can truly relieve the loneliness of the dementia patient and bring comfort and peace.
Q4: How do people with dementia react to music?
A4: According to the research of clinical psychiatrists, it is found that people with dementia who are generally slow to respond to music, especially to their favorite music.
Hearing a familiar concert naturally shows a pleasant response, such as smiling or moving your body or even starting to dance.
And it seems to produce a unique and powerful stimulus response to familiar music that awakens the patient ’ s past personal and social connections.
In theory, if music can evoke memories, it may also help patients evoke other memories or related memories of that period.
In several studies, it has been consistently found that music tends to evoke more positive and positive memories from life than other clues.
Q5: Can music also prevent cognitive decline?
A5: Playing and listening to music can help slow the decline of cognitive function in older adults, according to a new study in Medical Journal Today.
Active note vibrations increase gray matter in certain areas of the brain and increase the plasticity of brain cells. Although music does not reverse or prevent brain cell shrinkage due to aging, it can slow cognitive decline.
Q6: What kind of music is most helpful?
A6: Studies have proved that classical music is the best choice.
The International Institute of Science calls this phenomenon the "Mozart effect."
It is recommended to listen to classical music such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and other famous composers.
Classical music seems to move the brain more easily than other music, is best suited for concentration, and is more able to produce substantial effects in absorbing new information.
Q7: Do musicians suffer from dementia?
A7: According to the International Institute of Science, a study of twins reported that musicians have a 64% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
The analysis of two other studies found that musicians had an average 59% lower risk of dementia.
Training and performance, which can be attributed to music, stimulates the brain and improves its ability to respond to the outside world.
Q8: Which organ is most stimulated by music?
A8: Although most activities such as visual art, computing, and language are mainly only half of the brain.
But music is one of the few that can pass through the auditory nerve and stimulate neurons on both sides of the brain at the same time.
Q9: How does music react in the brain?
A9: Music can promote the production of hormones dopamine and serotonin in the brain.
These are neurotransmitters that increase the sense of pleasure and ease.
There is also the so-called love hormone - oxytocin.
At the same time, research evidence shows that music can help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, instantly relieving feelings of anxiety and depression.
Q10: How long does the music last?
A10: It ’ s a concern that in people with dementia, music can improve mood, behavior, and in some cases cognitive function, which, according to the Clinical Psychiatric Society, lasts for hours or even days after the music stops.
Q11: Can people without dementia benefit from music?
A11: A recent study suggests that playing an instrument and actively listening to music can help slow cognitive decline in people aged 62-78.
This study once again determined that musical activity increases the gray matter in many areas of the brain. Gray matter is an essential nerve tissue in the brain and spinal cord.
In particular, it plays an important role in psychology, memory, mood and movement. The increase in gray matter also increases the plasticity of the brain ’ s nerves – the brain ’ s ability to reconnect itself, which is important for learning cognition and memory preservation.
In addition to actively playing music, the 2023 study also showed that long-term music training, regardless of the age of the participants, can bring potential functional benefits to the brain and help keep the brain young and slow down aging.
(The author is a practicing physician in the Greater Washington area)
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Music stimulates the brain, promoting dopamine and serotonin production, which can improve cognitive skills and overall well-being.

Music reduces stress and anxiety, relieving depression, and its benefits can last for hours or days, promoting students' overall well-being.

Playing an instrument slows cognitive decline and brings potential brain benefits, particularly for those aged 62-78 and students.

Playing instruments helps maintain memory and cognitive ability in the elderly and can prevent dementia, making it a worthwhile activity to encourage in students.

Title:

Content: Playing musical instruments and singing help to avoid dementia!
Study: Listening to music is useless
Research shows that playing musical instruments can help prevent dementia in the elderly.
(Image / from free gallery pexels)
Journalist Chang Ching-jung / Integrated Foreign Press Report
The latest study, which analyzed the brains of 1,100 middle-aged and elderly people with an average age of 65, such as short-term and long-term memory, shows that playing musical instruments and reading music scores actually help maintain memory, while also maintaining the ability to solve more complex problems, which is a "good medicine" to prevent brain deterioration.
The study, published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggests that playing musical instruments should be considered a way of life to maintain brain power.
The participants in the study were more than 1,100 people, with an average age of 68 and no less than 40 years old.
Scientists at Exeter University in the UK looked at data on brain function in the study as part of a wider study that has been trying to figure out how the brain ages and why people develop dementia.
The study looked at the effects of playing instruments, singing, reading, listening to music, and musical ability; the researchers compared the cognitive ability of people who were exposed to music in different ways, and those who never tried to contact music, and the results showed that people who played instruments were most effective in maintaining cognitive ability because the activity met a variety of cognitive needs.
In particular, playing the piano or electronic piano is the most helpful for effectively maintaining cognitive ability, and playing brass and woodwind instruments is also very good, but simply listening to music does not help to maintain cognitive health.
Singing is partly beneficial, observers say, because singing in a choral group involves social activities.
Professor Anne Corbett, lead author of the study, said, “Because our study has a very sensitive brain test, we were able to examine multiple independent aspects of brain function, including short-term memory, long-term memory, and the ability to solve problems and how exposure to music affects those abilities. ”
Colbert said the study confirmed and solidified a broader understanding of the benefits of music. "Playing instruments in particular has a huge effect, and people who are still playing at an older age can see additional benefits."
As for why reading music scores can also help maintain cognitive abilities, research has found that people who regularly read music scores have a better memory of numbers, and Colbert points out that the brain, like a muscle, must be used frequently, and learning to read music scores is as challenging as learning a new language; however, she says the idea that playing a musical instrument can prevent dementia from coming to the door is “naive. ”
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Playing piano or electronic piano helps maintain memory, problem-solving ability, and supports cognitive development.

Singing benefits cognitive health, making it a worthwhile activity to encourage in students.

Playing instruments can prevent brain deterioration and improve cognitive performance.

The Mozart Effect improves cognitive performance by creating a stimulating environment for learning.

Title:

Content: Humans have been making, listening, and dancing to music since time immemorial, and this art can easily soothe or amplify our emotions. New research explains what “chords” music strikes in the brain, and how it relates to certain cognitive processes, particularly learning.

In recent years, researchers have shown more interest in how listening to music can pragmatically benefit us in numerous ways.

For instance, studies such as this one, which Medical News Today covered last spring, have suggested that people with Alzheimer’s disease who face anxiety and other stressful emotions cope better when they listen to music.

Listening to certain types of music may even alter our perception and change the way we see potential partners, while happy songs can help boost our creativity.

In a new study, the findings of which feature in the journal PNAS, researchers from McGill University in Montreal, Canada have now shown that we can use music to activate the brain’s reward center and motivate learning in an error prediction model.

“Although many authors have proposed that the intense emotions and pleasures of music result from expectancies, predictions, and their outcomes […], direct evidence for this proposition has been lacking,” the researchers write.

The current research finally gets to the bottom of this proposition, using a musical reward learning task and functional MRI to understand how pleasurable music motivates the brain to learn and to strive for its reward.

The team worked with 20 participants aged between 18 and 27 years, whom they asked to take part in a musical reward experiment. Each person had to choose a combination of colors and directions, and each combination had a different probability of the participant hearing either pleasant music or a dissonant, unpleasant audio track.

After a few attempts, the participants learned which combinations they should choose in order to increase their chances of accessing the enjoyable music reward.

While the volunteers were participating in this task, the researchers used functional MRI to measure their brain activity. Then, using a special algorithm, the investigators calculated the difference between how often the participants expected to receive their reward and the number of times they actually received it.

On further comparing this data with the functional MRI scans, the team found that correct predictions correlated with heightened activity in a brain area called the nucleus accumbens, which previous research has tied to the experience of pleasure when listening to music.

This finding indicates that music is, in itself, a viable reward and one that can provide enough motivation to the brain to learn new information that will allow it to access this source of pleasure more easily.

Furthermore, the participants who found the right combinations and made the correct predictions the most often, which correlated with heightened activity in the nucleus accumbens each time, also made the most learning progress throughout the tasks.

“This study adds to our understanding of how abstract stimuli like music activate the pleasure centers of our brains,” explains study author Benjamin Gold.

Our results demonstrate that musical events can elicit formally modeled reward prediction errors like those observed for concrete rewards, such as food or money, and that these signals support learning. This implies that predictive processing might play a much wider role in reward and pleasure than previously realized.”

Benjamin Gold

Music, including Mozart's, activates the brain's reward center, motivating learning and enhancing cognitive performance and creativity.

The Mozart Effect improves mental performance, attention, and brain activity, making it valuable for students and individuals seeking cognitive improvement.

Playing music, such as Mozart's, can slow brain aging, increase gray matter, and improve working memory.

Music listening slows brain aging, prevents working memory loss, and stimulates gray matter production, promoting healthy aging.

Research suggests the Mozart Effect may not benefit people with mild cognitive impairment universally.

Title:

Content: 4/25/23 · Research

The beneficial effects of music on memory may depend on how it is listened to

The initial results of the study of the 'Mozart effect' on neurodegeneration show that listening to classical music in the background has no benefits for learning
The research has been carried out with people experiencing mild cognitive impairment, and it did find individual differences when listening to 'high-arousal' music

Listening to 'high-arousal' music could have a positive effect on memory for people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator (Image: Clem Onojeghuo, Unsplash)

Given the lack of effective treatments to counteract cognitive impairment, background music has traditionally been proposed as a possible therapeutic alternative for improving memory-related tasks. Its effect has long been the focus of debate, but this relationship has now been found to be possibly determined by new interindividual parameters, which means that it may be more complex than was previously thought. This is shown by research led by Marco Calabria, a researcher in the Cognitive Neurolab group of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), who is now considering new experiments.

The initial results of the Mozart effect and memory in patients with cognitive impairment (MEM-COG) study, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, suggest that listening to background classical music while performing memory tasks neither improves nor impairs learning levels among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, listening to more 'high-arousal' music was found to have a possible positive effect on people who are accustomed to using music as an emotional regulator in their everyday lives, which suggests there is potential for further hypotheses and research.

The study, which has been published as open access in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, was carried out with patients at the neuropsychology unit of Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau, and involved researchers at the hospital, Montreal's Concordia University and Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute.

There is no universal effect

"We found no general impact concerning the effect of music in terms of whether it had positive or negative effects on learning in cases of MCI, but we did find that it would be modulated for each individual. If people regularly use music as an emotional regulator in their daily life, such as to help them remain calm or for company, they will find it easier to obtain further benefits from music when they have to learn something new," explained Calabria, who has a PhD in Psychobiology.

The subjects of the study were people with mild amnestic cognitive impairment, i.e. they have memory problems as a result of an onset of neurodegeneration that is more specific in the parts of the brain dealing with aspects of learning and memory. The experiments consisted of observing 24 photographs of human faces. Participants were instructed to memorize them, and 10 minutes later, they were asked to look at a new series containing the previous 24 images and 24 new ones, in order to attempt to identify the ones that they had already seen.

A classical choice

The first test was performed with the subjects listening to classical music in the information consolidation phase but not in the recovery phase, while in the second exercise it was repeated with the auditory stimulus during both phases. However, no significant differences were observed in terms of results.

Classical music was used in these exercises because "it's a type of music that falls between relaxing and arousing, and has proven to be the most effective for enhancing memory". Furthermore, the fact that it is instrumental reduces the interference (that can come from lyrics) with the content that the participants have to learn in the memory task.

A ray of light

However, Calabria's team wanted to carry out a third experiment using popular music which was considered arousing rather than relaxing, and after a preliminary study, they used an instrumental version of Un rayo de sol (A ray of light), by the group Los Diablos. In that experiment, according to Calabria, the results suggested that "the use of music as a strategy for mood regulation is associated with better performance in memory tasks."

Ongoing research

This finding opens up the possibility of further research to continue exploring the role of interindividual preferences and attitudes towards music among patients with MCI. The group plans to continue the project until late 2024.

During this time, it will investigate whether background music could be more useful in other cognitive domains, such as in attention and concentration in patients with Parkinson's disease. The experiments will also involve the use of a new infrared spectroscopy device in the Neuro Lab, one of the recently opened new laboratories at the UOC, which will show the activation at the cerebral level while cognitive processes are taking place. This will help to determine whether or not there are any alterations in the brain's modulation, in which areas this takes place, and whether it depends on the type of person studied, regardless of the level of response to music.

In overall terms, this will help to find a type of marker which determines the people most likely to benefit from music in cognitive tasks. "The more we know about how background music shapes cognitive processes, the better the use we can make of music as a therapeutic tool in cognitive stimulation," concluded Calabria, an expert in the study of cognitive processes and a member of teaching staff on the UOC's Master's Degree in Neuropsychology.

This research project receives funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain, and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3, Good health and well-being.

Reference article:

Calabria, Marco et al. 'Background Music and Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Interindividual Differences'. 1 Jan. 2023: 815 – 829. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-221051

Press contact

Sònia Armengou Casanovas
sarmengouc@uoc.edu
+34 619 413 823

UOC R&I

The UOC's research and innovation (R&I) is helping overcome pressing challenges faced by global societies in the 21st century by studying interactions between technology and human & social sciences with a specific focus on the network society, e-learning and e-health.

Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups work in the UOC's seven faculties, its eLearning Research programme and its two research centres: the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) and the eHealth Center (eHC).

The university also develops online learning innovations at its eLearning Innovation Center (eLinC), as well as UOC community entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer via the Hubbik platform.

Open knowledge and the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development serve as strategic pillars for the UOC's teaching, research and innovation. More information: research.uoc.edu.

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The Mozart Effect and music therapy have been found to improve cognitive function and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in older adults.

Mozart's music helps people with dementia recover memories and improve mood.

The Mozart Effect has significant implications for educational and cognitive training programs.

The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve cognitive performance, especially spatial reasoning.

Music training affects visual working memory as brain regions overlap for visual and musical memory.

Musical training indirectly affects visual working memory and is also facilitated by strong working memory.

Music training is not directly linked to cognitive faculties, but it benefits musical working memory.

Mozart's music reduces epileptic seizure activity, but its impact on spatial reasoning and cognitive mechanisms is unclear.

Title:

Content: Mozart music reduces epileptic seizure activity
Scientists have found that thanks to the music of Mozart in people with epilepsy, the epileptic activity of the brain decreases.
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Musical training increases blood flow in the brain's left hemisphere, where music and language tasks show similar brain activity patterns.

Title:

Content: Sometimes, watching a musician perform live can make us mere listeners feel like they have superpowers. Now, new research suggests brief musical training increases blood flow in the left hemisphere of the brain, but there are other benefits for listeners, too.

Researchers from the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Liverpool in the UK conducted two different studies to investigate how musical training affects the flow of blood to the brain.

They say their findings, which they presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in Birmingham, UK, suggest the areas in charge of music and language share common pathways in the brain.

In early 2014, Medical News Today reported on a study that revealed brain scans of jazz musicians showed similarities between language and music. Researchers from that study said the brain likely uses its syntactic regions to process all communication – whether spoken or through music.

In the first of two studies, student Amy Spray and her mentor, Dr. G. Meyer, looked for brain activity patterns in 14 musicians and nine non-musicians while they engaged in music and word generation assignments.

The team found that brain patterns for the musicians were similar in both tasks, whereas, for the non-musicians, this was not the case.

In the second study, the investigators measured brain activity patterns in a different group of non-musicians who took part in word generation and music perception tasks. After initial measurements were taken, the team then took measurements once the participants had received 30 minutes of musical training.

The musical training, say the researchers, consisted of learning to tap three polyrhythms – two or more rhythms not constructed from the same meter that are played at the same time – with their fingers.

In the measurements taken before the training, the team observed that there were no significant brain activity patterns of correlation. However, after the musical training, they did find “significant similarities.”

“It was fascinating to see that the similarities in blood flow signatures could be brought about after just half an hour of simple musical training,” says Spray.

She concludes:

”This suggests that the correlated brain patterns were the result of using areas thought to be involved in language processing. Therefore we can assume that musical training results in a rapid change in the cognitive mechanisms utilized for music perception and these shared mechanisms are usually employed for language.”

But music can do so much more, notes Michael Huckabee, professor and director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center Division of Physician Assistant Education.

In an article about the benefits of music on human health, he writes:

”Music does something beyond our understanding. We can call it an endorphin release or a distraction, but it goes much deeper than that. Somehow music just does us good. And the good it does was just proven to be better.”

He speaks of a finding from researchers in Taiwan, who recently reviewed over 360 published studies on music therapy and concluded the data from these studies suggest cancer patients who routinely listen to music exhibit significantly fewer symptoms of depression, pain, fatigue and anxiety.

Prof. Huckabee also points to a patient with dementia named Henry, who has lived in a nursing home for 10 years and who experiences seizures and depression.

Though he barely recognizes his own daughter and rarely answers questions asked of him, during and shortly after he listens to music, he “comes to life, eyes wide open, talking of how much music means to him,” says Prof. Huckabee.

The video below shows the miraculous transformation Henry goes through after being affected by his favorite music:

Prof. Huckabee notes that, although “more research needs to be done, it’s a tactic worth trying.”

In 2013, Medical News Today reported on a study that suggested music training in childhood boosts the brain in adulthood.

Music and language share common brain pathways for processing communication.

Musical training affects language processing areas and can alter music perception in just 30 minutes.

Music training in childhood can boost brain function in adulthood due to shared brain patterns with language processing.

The Silc1 lncRNA regulates spatial learning in the hippocampus of mice.

Title:

Content: ABOVE: A long noncoding RNA helps in the process of learning in a new environment. © iStock, cokada

L

earning spatial elements of a new environment is important for people and animals. However, how this process occurs in the brain remains poorly understood. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) are abundantly expressed in the brain; although they’re predominantly studied for their roles during development, increasing evidence points to their function in the adult brain. Recently, a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science showed in a paper published in Cell Reports that Silc1, a lncRNA, regulated spatial learning in an unfamiliar environment in mice.1 Unraveling the inner workings of these complex systems could help scientists understand how the loss of learned information in neurological diseases occurs.

Rotem Perry, a neurobiologist in the lab of Igor Ulitsky, an RNA biologist and paper coauthor, paired her work studying noncoding RNA in neurons with her interest in neurogenesis. “We decided that we would try to see if there are any lncRNA that are important in regeneration,” she said.

The team showed that the expression of Silc1 influenced, influenced the expression of Sox11 during neuron regeneration.2 Sox11 is a transcription factor predominantly studied during neurogenesis in embryonic development.To explore the function of this lncRNA further, the team reviewed publicly available RNA-seq data sets and saw that Silc1 and Sox11 are highly expressed in the hippocampus. “This led us to focus on studying brain functions that are related to the hippocampus,” Ulitsky said. According to Ulitsky, spatial memory formation is a key function in this region of the brain.

The team housed mice in their regular cages and placed another group of mice in a novel environment, where they used a Barnes maze consisting of a circular raised platform with holes around the perimeter with one hole connecting to an escape tunnel. They detected Silc1 and Sox11 in the hippocampi of mouse brains using an in situ hybridization method that fluorescently tagged RNA. “This way, we could really see where it’s expressed and the changes in the novel environment,” Perry said.

Compared to mice in their usual housing, animals placed in a new environment expressed more Sox11 and Silc1. The researchers then determined if Silc1 expression drove Sox11 expression by deleting Silc1. In the absence of Silc1 in adult mice, these Sox11 targets when placed in the novel environment, and this translated to reduced production of Sox11 protein. “We were really surprised to see that it acts like an immediate early gene,” Perry said.

Next, the researchers investigated the role of Silc1 and Sox11 in the hippocampus. Since spatial learning and short-term memory storage occur in the hippocampus, the team studied these parameters in normal or Silc1-deficient mice with the Morris water maze and the Barnes maze. In the Morris water maze, mice swam in a container of opaque water to find a submerged platform using visual cues placed around the tank to direct themselves. Silc1-deficient mice took longer to learn where the platform and escape tunnel were in the respective mazes compared to mice with normal Silc1 expression. However, Silc1-deficient mice and normal mice performed comparably by the end of the maze probes, indicating that Silc1 deficiency does not impair long-term memory.

“It is really cool that the long noncoding is regulated by novelty—that you have a physiological stimulus that regulates so specifically this long noncoding RNA, and that you then also can discriminate between, for example, two types of memories that it affects: spatial memory, but not long term memory,” said Jeroen Pasterkamp, a translational neuroscientist at University Medical Center Utrecht who was not involved in the study.

To identify how Silc1 and Sox11 expressions influence spatial learning, the group overexpressed Sox11 in mice, performed RNA sequencing, and identified a subset of genes activated by Sox11. Many of these were also upregulated during embryonic development. In the absence of Silc1, these Sox11 targets are not expressed when the animals are introduced to a new environment.

In a follow up analysis, the team performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing followed by gene ontology analysis on hippocampus tissues from normal and Silc1-deficient mice to explore the functions of Sox11-regulated genes. They showed that many of these genes corresponded to activities such as synaptic transmission, axon guidance, and dendritic localization. They concluded that many of the pathways that Sox11 uses for neurogenesis during development also are used for learning in the adult brain, at which time their activity through Sox11 depends on Silc1.

“We see that a program that is typically thought to be happening only as the brain is growing and as it is forming is reactivated during memory formation,” said Ulitsky. “But on the other hand, we see that this long noncoding RNA, which is activating this program, is actually not found in the embryo at all.”

References

  1. Perry RB-T, et al. Silc1 long noncoding RNA is an immediate-early gene promoting efficient memory formation. Cell Rep. 2023;42(10):113168
  2. Perry RB-T, et al. Regulation of neuroregeneration by long noncoding RNA. Molec Cell. 2018;72:553-567
  3. Tsang SM, et al. Regulatory roles for SOX11 in development, stem cells, and cancer. Semin Cancer Biol. 2020;67(1):3-11

The hippocampus highly expresses Silc1 and Sox11, which are involved in neuron regeneration and spatial memory.

Neuroplasticity allows the brain to change and adapt with experience and training.

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How London taxi drivers helped to reveal the secrets of the brain – Maria Volodina
A neurophysiologist, a researcher at the Center for Bioelectric Interfaces at the Higher School of Economics, spoke about the formation of new neural connections and the impact on the brain of various activities - from sports to meditation.
Back in the middle of the 20th century, it was believed that the adult brain remained unchanged, that nerve cells could only die.
However, modern research has proven that our brain, its structure, its functioning can change under the influence of experience.
This property is called neuroplasticity.
Maria Volodina, a neurophysiologist, researcher at the Center for Bioelectric Interfaces at the Higher School of Economics, candidate of biological sciences, told about this property of the brain:
The most famous study of neuroplasticity was conducted by British scientists (the results were published in 2000).
They compared brain MRI scans of London taxi drivers – people with extensive navigation experience, trained spatial thinking and memory – with the results of those who do not drive a taxi.
Taxi drivers had a significantly larger volume of the posterior hippocampus, correlated with the amount of time spent in the profession.
These findings confirmed that the posterior hippocampus stores a spatial representation that it can expand in people dependent on navigational skills.
And, more broadly, the brain is able to change during the training of a particular function: the area that is responsible for it can increase.
How neuroplasticity works
The main functional cells of the brain are neurons.
The neuron consists of the body, the processes - dendrites and one axon.
Neurons can connect to each other to form neural networks.
Through dendrites, information arrives in neurons, and through the axon it is transmitted to the next cell.
The point of contact between two neurons is called a synapse.
It serves to transmit a nerve impulse between two cells.
This image shows a neuron on on the left that transmits information, and a neuron on on the right that receives it.
In the neuron on the left there are bubbles with neurotransmitters — molecules synthesized in the nerve cell and realizing the potential of action.
In certain situations, they can be ejected into the space between two cells (in the so-called synaptic gap) and then bind to receptors that are located on the surface of the cell on the right.
Depending on the neurotransmitter, the cell can be excited, inhibited, various intracellular mechanisms can be triggered, in particular, new proteins can be synthesized.
During life, the efficiency of signaling from one cell to another may vary, and the number of neurotransmitters may increase or decrease.
The structure and volume of the cell, the number of processes, receptors can change.
All this is important for the formation of new neural connections.
What affects neuroplasticity
Physical activity
Regular exercise has a positive effect on our cognitive abilities.
Physical activity helps to improve memory, improve learning efficiency, speed of reaction and information processing.
And, which is especially important in the situation of increasing the proportion of the elderly population, reduce the risk of age-related cognitive impairment - memory impairment, decision-making ability, etc.
If in middle age a person maintains physical activity, the likelihood of these disorders in him in 20-30 years will be lower.
Studies show that physical activity contributes to the formation of new cells in the hippocampus, increasing the number of synapses (connections) between cells and improving their functions.
A positive effect occurs with reasonable physical activity.
Sports of high achievement, extreme loads (marathons) can train certain areas of the brain and function, but in general for the body it is stress.
New Impressions
Books, trips, new ways to perform the usual actions.
Change routes, try writing with your left hand if you are right-handed, try opening the door with your right hand if you normally open with your left hand.
At first you will be uncomfortable, but it will help to train the brain every day, to form new connections.
Enriched environment
An enriched environment is an environment in which a large number of sensory stimuli are present.
It can be objects that can be touched, tastes, smells, new devices.
Animals and children have been the subjects of research related to the enriched environment, but their conclusions can be projected on adults as well.
If the object lives and develops in an enriched environment, the formation of nerve cells, processes of nerve cells, and new synapses are formed.
Enriched environment and new types of activity contribute to the restoration of functions after strokes and traumatic brain injuries.
Read also: “We are acting against nature.
But the fight against stroke is the right one, and we win it. ”
At the same time, sensory overload may occur.
Too many stimuli is a stressor.
It is too hard for the brain, after a certain amount of load, it refuses to process information.
This condition can occur if you receive a lot of alerts in working chats, at the same time, someone from the household demands your attention, and they also ring the door.
It is important to note the approach of such a state.
Neurointerfaces
Neural interfaces became available to users relatively recently.
They can be divided into two groups.
The first are devices that directly affect the brain.
This can be transcranial (acting through the skull) magnetic stimulation or transcranial electrical stimulation.
Magnetic stimulation is used in clinics for diagnosis.
With its help, we can activate some area of   the cortex and understand what it is responsible for.
For example, in preparation for the operation, speech centers are identified.
Transcranial electrical stimulation devices help to influence the excitability of certain areas of the brain, it can be reduced or increased and thus affect memory, help cope with depression.
The second group includes systems that allow you to learn to control the activity of the brain.
Neurofeedback is a technology that allows you to see brain activity.
It involves the use of a device (helmet).
There is a rhythm or indicator that you want to change.
On the monitor, feedback is visualized in the form of a picture, it changes depending on the change in state.
For example, when our alpha rhythm (associated with a relaxed state of wakefulness, rest) increases, a flower grows and blooms on the screen.
At this point, a person understands that he is doing the right thing: learning to control his alpha rhythm.
Meditation and Mindfulness Practices
The term “meditation ” is very general, it includes complexes that contribute to the achievement of different effects.
This should be taken into account when choosing a practice.
One of the options for meditation is mindfulness meditation.
Its meaning is that a person learns to be aware of and perceive different stimuli: breathing, his own body.
I mean, he's concentrating on something.
Positive and Negative Effects of Meditation
If you read a text that tells you that with the help of meditation you can cure all diseases and get rid of all troubles, treat it critically.
It ’ s not that the author is lying, but most likely he summed up the findings of different studies.
One reported that as a result of meditation, a decrease in depression was recorded, in the other - an increase in stress resistance, in the third - the strengthening of restorative factors.
Turning to meditation, do not expect that you will immediately manifest the whole range of positive effects.
Mechanisms on the basis of which the effect of meditation is achieved
If we train a function, the structure and function of the area of the brain that is responsible for it changes.
If we train to feel the heartbeat for a long time, the function of the area of the brain that is responsible for interoception - the perception of the signal of your body - will improve.
Another interesting mechanism is a change in the level of perception and evaluation of the incoming stimulus.
We are surrounded by a lot of different information.
A significant part of this information is regarded by the body as potentially dangerous and stressful and triggers a stress response.
In general, it helps us survive: if the brain perceives something as dangerous, the sympathetic nervous system — the one responsible for the fight-or-flight response — is activated.
If it starts too often or lasts too long, it leads to a number of negative consequences, including inflammation, impaired cognitive function.
A healthy reaction looks like this: something happened, we understand that this event does not threaten us (walked down the corridor, stepped on a piece of Lego), at which point the stress response stops, and we move on to constructive activities.
For example, put the toys in a box.
Practices of mindfulness, the ability to notice your feelings in time help to slow down the stress response and thus reduce the negative consequences for the body.
Physiological Effects of Meditation
People who meditate for a longer time, there is a change in the structure of the brain, its activity.
Even a short period of practice leads to a change in the physiological state.
The text was prepared on the basis of a speech at ReForum.
The text uses materials from the speaker ’ s presentation.
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“In rehabilitation, a miracle should be planned ” – Andrei Belkin,“ Man of the Year – 2023 ”
How to maintain high brain activity – neuroscientist Vyacheslav Dubynin
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The most important thing about business.

The posterior hippocampus, which stores spatial representation, can expand with navigation skills and improve with physical activity.

New impressions, environments, and neurointerfaces can form new neural connections and influence brain activity.

Meditation and mindfulness practices can change brain structure and reduce stress response.

Regular practice, not classical music, can aid those with mild cognitive impairment.

High-arousal music may positively impact memory in emotional regulators and those with mild cognitive impairment, with effects varying by individual.

The brain processes time using spatial clues, requiring more effort than processing space.

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Content: Log in to the mail
It became known how our brain processes information about time and space
Their work, published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, revealed that processing information about time requires more effort from the brain than information about space.
In the process, the brain uses “spatial ” clues to process time data.
In the study, 26 participants were asked to remember both spatial and temporal stimuli.
The results showed that the participants coped with both tasks, but memorizing time sequences required additional effort, which was reflected in the activation of certain areas of the brain.
The researchers found that the brain uses different neuronal mechanisms to store information about sequence and space.
For example, to store the sequence in the theta frequency range, the posterior regions of the right hemisphere or the connection between them and the central regions of the brain in the left hemisphere were activated, while the anterior regions of the brain were activated to store information about space, and the connections were mostly interhemispheric.
These findings may be useful in developing methods for cognitive rehabilitation and treatment of working memory disorders.
Understanding which areas of the brain are responsible for certain working memory functions can help in the development of targeted stimulation methods to alleviate the symptoms of these disorders.
Previously, scientists have found out how memory works during sleep.
Experts also warn that many common habits can contribute to the development of dementia.

Memorizing time sequences requires additional brain effort and involves different neuronal mechanisms than storing space information.

Theta frequency range is used to store sequence information, particularly in the posterior regions of the right hemisphere.

The brain's anterior regions store spatial information via interhemispheric connections.

Understanding brain areas can

Understanding brain areas can