Study Suggests There Is Not A “Sensitive Period” For Developing Musical Skills

By Emma Young Mozart famously started playing the piano and composing while still a young child. But if he hadn’t started musical practice then, would his future achievements have been as impressive? Is there, in other words, a “sensitive period” in which the brain is especially susceptible to musical stimulation, and during which a person must start to acquire musical skills in order to achieve their full potential — as is the case for visual perception, say, or language acquisition? There has been a lot of debate about this, but now a major new study of professional musicians and identical and non-identical twins in Sweden suggests not.  The 310 musicians studied by Laura Wesseldijk at the Karolinska Institute and colleagues were all either professionally active or students at a music college. They were aged between 27 and 54 (to match the age range of the twin sample) and had started musical training between the ages of two and 18. These participants reported on when they started that training and how many hours a week they had spent in music practice up to the age of 18, as well as in adulthood. Their musical aptitude was measured using an online test of ability to discriminate pitch, melody and rhythm. They also reported on their level of musical achievement, giving details of how many works they had composed and had performed, any radio or TV recordings, and any music awards, for example. The twin data came from the Swedish Twin Registry. ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Developmental Music Source Type: blogs