Neuroplasticity can be defined as the brain’s remarkable ability to reorganize its structure, functions, and neural connections throughout life in response to experiences, learning, injury, or environmental changes, essentially allowing it to adapt, rewire, and form new pathways to develop new skills or recover lost functions. Scientists have discovered that playing music, and possibly even listening to it, can help your brain and provide it with significant neuroplasticity.

In this study, scientists specifically delved into the effects of music on neuroplasticity. They found that musicians actually have a significantly larger corpus callosum, which is the area that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Larger corpus callosums allow for a faster transfer of information through both sides of your brain. Scientists also found(in pianists specifically) that they had a larger area of grey and white matter. A greater amount of grey matter means that there are more neuronal cell bodies, specifically in the auditory, motor, and visuospatial cortices. It allows musicians to have greater control over hearing or discerning different areas of music, for example, tiny changes in pitch that non-musicans simply cannot hear. Visual changes can also occur in the auditory cortex with as little as one year of music training, at any age! Studies show that music exposure leads to a stronger connection between the superior and middle areas of the gyrus, an area that helps with auditory processing and the connection of different sounds. Another area, the planum temporale, is an area that is crucial for processing music and speech and has been shown to have a greater size in musicians because of their ability to process and understand absolute pitch. Its appearance in musicians resembles something similar to that of someone who knows multiple languages. The hippocampus, your brain’s memory center, has also been found to have larger grey matter in musicians. In general, musicians were shown to have improved verbal memory, faster response to speech, perform better in auditory-related tasks, and, with the given evidence, we can tell that musicians have less effect on age-related cognitive decline. In fact, according to this study, playing music has a greater protective impact than other cognitive tasks, like reading and writing. 

In this meta-analysis, similar results were also revealed. It is proven through the analysis of these multiple studies that music listening is correlated with relaxation and improved immune function. Among musicians, there was a clear increase in activity and matter in specific auditory-related areas of the brain, and both listening to and playing music are associated with greater neuroplasticity. This was observed through the enhancement of neurotrophins, differences in hormonal levels, and stress reduction.

I hope you’ve learned something new today. Being able to play an instrument is truly a superpower, no matter who you are. If you don’t already – I encourage you to go and try and make some music, it’s truly an amazing thing for your brain!