It’s in its early stages, but a study by the DANA foundation is examining whether people interested in the arts are smarter to begin with, or if their intelligence is stimulated and improved by their exposure to the arts. <\/p>\n
Here’s the abstract:<\/p>\n
Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The study used brain imaging as well as behavioral studies to identify eight key points:<\/p>\n
\n\n
- An interest in a performing art leads to a high state of motivation that produces the sustained attention necessary to improve performance and the training of attention that leads to improvement in other domains of cognition.<\/li>\n
- Genetic studies have begun to yield candidate genes that may help explain individual differences in interest in the arts.<\/li>\n
- Specific links exist between high levels of music training and the ability to manipulate information in both working and long-term memory; these links extend beyond the domain of music training.<\/li>\n
- In children, there appear to be specific links between the practice of music and skills in geometrical representation, though not in other forms of numerical representation.<\/li>\n
- Correlations exist between music training and both reading acquisition and sequence learning. One of the central predictors of early literacy, phonological awareness, is correlated with both music training and the development of a specific brain pathway.<\/li>\n
- Training in acting appears to lead to memory improvement through the learning of general skills for manipulating semantic information.<\/li>\n
- Adult self-reported interest in aesthetics is related to a temperamental factor of openness, which in turn is influenced by dopamine-related genes.<\/li>\n
- Learning to dance by effective observation is closely related to learning by physical practice, both in the level of achievement and also the neural substrates that support the organization of complex actions. Effective observational learning may transfer to other cognitive skills.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n
For the complete study information, go to the DANA web page<\/a> devoted to the study.
\nYou can also download a pdf file of the complete study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s in its early stages, but a study by the DANA foundation is examining whether people interested in the arts are smarter to begin with, or if their intelligence is stimulated and improved by their exposure to the arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[148,115,657],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-research-study"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-dq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":840,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/09\/music-studies-page-added\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":0},"title":"music studies page added","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I just added a page (see tab at top of the site) where I'll be posting new and existing major studies on arts education.\u00c2\u00a0 There are two studies currently posted: the Knight Foundation's 2006 Magic of Music Final Report: The Search for Shining Eyes, and the Dana Foundation's 2008 report:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/19\/duh-music-makes-you-smarter\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":1},"title":"duh! music makes you smarter","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Interesting study that just was released - read more here. Here's the teaser: Scientists have uncovered the first concrete evidence that playing music can significantly enhance the brain and sharpen hearing for all kinds of sounds, including speech. \"Experience with music appears to help with many other things in life,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"News\"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/tag\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7796,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/25\/the-oregonian-just-doesnt-get-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":2},"title":"the oregonian just doesn’t get it","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In a cynical and baldly anti-arts and anti-schools editorial last week, the Oregonian's editorial board recommended that voters repudiate the Creative Arts Network's ballot issue. It it doubly ridiculous that the editorial board, (1) protests the 'regressive' nature of the assessment (which never seemed to bother them before), and (2)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/arts-hours-jp-599x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/arts-hours-jp-599x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/arts-hours-jp-599x231.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/26\/inside-carlos-kalmars-brain\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":3},"title":"inside carlos kalmar’s brain","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Carlos Kalmar - Photo: Oregon Symphony In case you missed it, the Oregonian ran a story about our music director Carlos Kalmar taking part in a brain study at OHSU.\u00c2\u00a0 It involved Kalmar being put into an MRI machine, then listening to a movement of Dvorak's Sixth Symphony (which he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"carlos_kalmar4_portrait_bw","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/carlos_kalmar4_portrait_bw-400x503.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1299,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/19\/not-sure-how-this-applies-to-violists-however\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":4},"title":"not sure how this applies to violists, however","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A study was recently published which showed that mens' fine-motor-skills reached their peak in speediness at the age of 39.\u00c2\u00a0 After this point, there was a steady and significant decline in speed.\u00c2\u00a0 As my wife said when I told her about this: \"How does it feel to be a has-been?\".\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/vla-sm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5288,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/09\/07\/arts-education-continues-to-suffer-in-oregon\/","url_meta":{"origin":832,"position":5},"title":"arts education continues to suffer in oregon","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a sad headline to have to write, but it's absolutely true.\u00a0 Arts education does continue to suffer in Oregon.\u00a0 It suffers from a lack of money, which comes from a lack of caring on the part of everyday people in our state.\u00a0 Don't blame the politicians - they're making\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}