Music teachers and students fall for music-related neuromyths – German study

By Christian Jarrett One day neuroscience might revolutionise education, but for now the scientific findings most relevant to teaching and learning come from psychology. In fact, many popular claims about the brain and learning are neuromyths – unsubstantiated or plain wrong ideas, such as that we only use ten per cent of our brains, that some of us are left-brained, others right-brained, or that we learn best when taught via our preferred “learning style”. Unfortunately and often with the best of intentions, surveys have shown that a lot of teachers believe these myths (for instance, one survey published in 2012 found that British and Dutch teachers believed around half of the 15 neuromyths they were tested on). Now a study in Frontiers in Psychology has focused on German music teachers and students to see how vulnerable they are to brain myths pertaining specifically to music. Although the participants showed some ability to distinguish between true facts and myths, they still endorsed around 40 per cent of the myths, especially those that contained neuroscientific jargon. Nina Düvel and her colleagues at the Hanover Music Lab asked four experts in the fields of the neuroscience of music or the neuroscience of music education to agree on seven music-related brain facts, and seven music-related brain myths. Among the facts: the idea that music education can benefit language skills and that the anatomy of the brain can change in response to musical training. ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Brain Educational Music Source Type: blogs