1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; 2Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA.
1Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; 2Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA ; 3Bilingualism and Psycholinguistics Research Group, Northwestern University Evanston, IL, USA.
Front Psychol. 2013 Dec 6;4:855. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00855. eCollection 2013.
Should music be a priority in public education? One argument for teaching music in school is that private music instruction relates to enhanced language abilities and neural function. However, the directionality of this relationship is unclear and it is unknown whether school-based music training can produce these enhancements. Here we show that 2 years of group music classes in high school enhance the neural encoding of speech. To tease apart the relationships between music and neural function, we tested high school students participating in either music or fitness-based training. These groups were matched at the onset of training on neural timing, reading ability, and IQ. Auditory brainstem responses were collected to a synthesized speech sound presented in background noise. After 2 years of training, the neural responses of the music training group were earlier than at pre-training, while the neural timing of students in the fitness training group was unchanged. These results represent the strongest evidence to date that in-school music education can cause enhanced speech encoding. The neural benefits of musical training are, therefore, not limited to expensive private instruction early in childhood but can be elicited by cost-effective group instruction during adolescence.
音乐应该成为公共教育的重点吗？在学校教授音乐的一个论据是，私人音乐指导与增强的语言能力和神经功能有关。然而，这种关系的方向性尚不清楚，也不知道学校的音乐训练是否能产生这些增强效果。在这里，我们表明，高中两年的集体音乐课增强了对语音的神经编码。为了梳理音乐和神经功能之间的关系，我们测试了参加音乐或健身训练的高中生。这些组在训练开始时就根据神经计时、阅读能力和智商进行了匹配。我们采集了听觉脑干反应，以测试在背景噪声中呈现的合成语音。经过 2 年的训练，音乐训练组的神经反应比训练前更早，而健身训练组学生的神经计时则没有变化。这些结果代表了迄今为止最有力的证据，证明学校的音乐教育可以增强语音编码。因此，音乐训练的神经益处不仅限于儿童早期昂贵的私人指导，而且可以通过青春期具有成本效益的集体指导来激发。
