Studies Suggest Music Can Make You Smarter
There are all kinds of ways to rationalize how much time you spend listening to music. I know because I do it all day long. It helps me think, it cheers me up, it mellows me out, it energizes my run, it brings back happy memories. Whatever the song, I have a reason why I must listen to it. But I just found this report that has reached the conclusion that listening to music and music training can literally make you smarter.
For example, studies indicated that people who play instruments have improved hearing, making musicians more likely to pick up on accents, speech patterns and rhythm. It also helps with memory and the ability to pick up a foreign language. One study from Northwestern University claims that languages as tough as Mandarin are easiest to learn if you have at least six years of experience learning a musical instrument.
Then the University of Texas also determined that college students who listened to some Mozart had an increase in spatial IQ. Another study found that listening to any music you like can improve cognition. And music can change the way your brainstem functions. There's even a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School who figured out that after giving music therapy to stroke patients with lesions on the side of the brain associated with language, they "could sing 'Happy Birthday,' recite their addresses and communicate if they were thirsty."
There were no findings in the report about the benefits specific to country music, but if I had to hypothesize, I'd say that if Mozart can boost your IQ, then country can, too.
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(ACM Lifting Lives/C.A.T.S. instrument donation in Checotah, Okla.)
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janet says:
I have always said that listening to country music makes you SMARTER!
hotelmotel says:
From the link that Alison gives here, its really hard to know what to make of these studies. The burning question is: does listening to music make you smarter (improve spatial IQ, improve cognition, et cetera) in any significant way? How much music is enough - will I gain more benefits from listening to 10 hours a day or will all the benefits come if I just listen to 30 minutes a day? Are the effects long lasting or do they go away shortly after listening? In which cases is listening enough and in which cases must I actually practice on an instrument?
And of course, while music might “make you smarter,” is listening to music a particularly effective or efficient way of becoming “smarter?” Apparently it is “easiest” (whatever that means) to learn Mandarin (just Mandarin? Other languages too? Which languages?) if one has had SIX (!!) years experience learning a musical instrument. Although perhaps this suggests that musicians might do well to learn another language, it isn’t exactly a strong argument for learning to play an instrument (”Hey, wanna learn a language more quickly? All you have to do is spend six years with an instrument first!)
Music is very valuable : listening to music is very rewarding and learning to play is a wonderful thing to do. But I am wary of claims that “music makes you smarter.” The claims may or may not be true, but even if they are true, its not clear whether they should influence our behavior. If I want to become smarter, is listening to “Honky Tonkbadonkadonk” a good option or is reading a challenging book or interacting with smart people the way to go? If I want my kid to do well in foreign language study, should I encourage her to play an instrument or should I encourage her to study a foreign language?
Perhaps in some special cases, this research is relevant: the examples of stroke patients seem like they might be very interesting to medical doctors. But I’m not sure whether the information in this blog post ought to influence the behavior of the general american.
Carrie No.1 fan says:
Unless you’re listening to Swift. It’s not healthy to live life in a fairy tale while listening to dogs howl.