Learning to play piano could fine-tune brains

PLAYING the piano improves the brain’s ability to process sights and sounds, as well as reducing depression, anxiety and stress, according to a study.

Researchers at the University of Bath followed beginners who took lessons for an hour a week over an 11-week period.

The one-to-one lessons consisted of 20 minutes of finger exercises, followed by learning songs from a piano grade one exam list for 40 minutes.

Results published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports show those who learnt the piano improved their ability to process multisensory information – sight and sound. They also had reduced depression, anxiety and stress scores after training.

Dr Karin Petrini, from the University of Bath’s Department of Psychology, said: “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.”

In the randomised control study, 31 adults were assigned into either a music training, music listening or control group.

With musical training, participants’ audio-visual processing became accurate across other tasks, such as a test in which they were asked to determine whether sound and vision events occurred at the same time.