Musical training could help children focus their attention, control their emotions and even ease anxiety.
The recent study that made these findings was dubbed "the largest investigation of the association between playing a musical instrument and brain development," the University of Vermont reported.
To make their findings the researchers looked at National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development data. They analyzed brain scans of 232 children between the ages of six and 18.
As children get older the outer layer of the brain (the cortex) changes in thickness, and thinning in specific areas of this layer can increase the chances of anxiety, depression and attention problems.
The researchers found that learning to play music changed the motor areas of children's' brains. The team also observed that musical practice alters the thickness of regions of the cortex linked to "executive functioning, including working memory, attentional control, as well as organization and planning for the future," the authors wrote.
It was also found to influence the thickness of regions related to inhibition and emotional control. The findings suggest teaching patients to play instruments could help treat psychological problems.
"We treat things that result from negative things, but we never try to use positive things as treatment," said James Hudziak, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families.
The researchers noted three-quarters of U.S. high school students "rarely or never" participate in extracurricular activities related to music or the arts.
"Such statistics, when taken in the context of our present neuroimaging results," the authors wrote. "Underscore the vital importance of finding new and innovative ways to make music training more widely available to youths, beginning in childhood."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
