Those childhood music lessons could pay off decades later -- even for those who no longer play an instrument -- by keeping the mind sharper as people age, according to a preliminary study published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
The study recruited 70 healthy adults age 60 to 83 who were divided into groups based on their levels of musical experience. The musicians performed better on several cognitive tests than individuals who had never studied an instrument or learned how to read music, according to the research findings published Wednesday online in the APA journal Neuropsychology.
"Musical activity throughout life may serve as a challenging cognitive exercise, making your brain fitter and more capable of accommodating the challenges of aging," said lead researcher Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center. "Since studying an instrument requires years of practice and learning, it may create alternate connections in the brain that could compensate for cognitive declines as we get older."
The three groups of study participants included individuals with no musical training; with one to nine years of musical study; or with at least 10 years of musical training. All of the participants had similar levels of education and fitness and didn' t show any evidence of Alzheimer's disease.
All of the musicians were amateurs who began playing an instrument at about 10 years of age. More than half played the piano while approximately a quarter had studied woodwind instruments such as the flute or clarinet. Smaller numbers performed with stringed instruments, percussion or brass instruments.
The high-level musicians who had studied the longest performed the best on the cognitive tests, followed by the low-level musicians and non-musicians, revealing a trend relating to years of musical practice. The high-level musicians had statistically significant higher scores than the non-musicians on cognitive tests relating to visuospatial memory, naming objects and cognitive flexibility, or the brain's ability to adapt to new information.
The brain functions measured by the tests typically decline as the body ages and more dramatically deteriorate in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. The results "suggest a strong predictive effect of high musical activity throughout the lifespan on preserved cognitive functioning in advanced age," the study stated.
Half of the high-level musicians still played an instrument at the time of the study, but they didn't perform better on the cognitive tests than the other advanced musicians who had stopped playing years earlier. This suggests that the duration of musical study was more important than whether musicians continued playing at an advanced age, Hanna-Pladdy says.
"Based on previous research and our study results, we believe that both the years of musical participation and the age of acquisition are critical," Hanna-Pladdy says. "There are crucial periods in brain plasticity that enhance learning, which may make it easier to learn a musical instrument before a certain age and thus may have a larger impact on brain development."
The preliminary study was correlational, meaning that the higher cognitive performance of the musicians couldn't be conclusively linked to their years of musical study. More research is needed to explore that possible link.
Japanese officials have decided to legally enforce an exclusion zone within 20 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant starting at midnight Thursday.
Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that Prime Minister Naoto Kan will announce the new restrictions during a visit to the region on Thursday. Tory burch shoes
More than 60,000 people were evacuated from the zone shortly after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday that some residents and others have been venturing back in spite of a government advisory to stay away.
Engineers at the plant have been working since Tuesday to pump more than 10,000 tons of highly radioactive water out of the basement and utility tunnel at one of the six reactors. Officials said water levels in the tunnel - which had been rising about two centimeters a day - were down about one centimeter as of Wednesday morning.
A French company, Areva, has contracted to build a facility at the plant capable of decontaminating 50 tons per hour of water so it can be recycled to keep the plant's nuclear fuel rods from overheating. Officials hope to have the facility in operation by the beginning of June.
Officials with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant's operators, released the first photographs from inside two of the badly damaged reactor buildings on Wednesday. The pictures were taken by remote-controlled robots sent in to measure radiation levels to determine whether humans can safely go back inside.
The Kyodo news agency quoted a doctor who has examined some of the men struggling to stabilize the plant as saying the men are at risk of depression or death from overwork. The doctor said the workers, some of whom lost their own family members in the tsunami, are pushing themselves out of a sense of moral responsibility.
Despite the problems, an official at the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that radiation levels leaking from the plant are coming down steadily. IAEA expert Denis Flory said unless something unexpected happens, he does not expect total radiation leaking into the environment to increase much beyond current levels.
National police said late Tuesday the confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has topped 14,000, with more than 13,600 others missing. It said more than 90 percent of the victims recovered so far died from drowning, and that more than 65 percent of them were over age 60.
FIFA set up a committee on Tuesday to take over Bosnian soccer federation and solve rifts that led to Bosnia Hercegovina's suspension from international football this month.
The normalisation committee will immediately cut off the old tripatrite leadership by May 26 and reform the country's football federation by the end of November, FIFA said in a statement. tory burch shoes flats
FIFA and UEFA suspended Bosnia Hercegovina from international and European football on April 1 after the country's federation ( NSBIH) failed to adopt statutes that would lead to a single-member presidency.
"The FIFA Emergency Committee has decided today 12 April 2011 to appoint a normalisation committee in order to solve the problems faced by the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FFBH)," FIFA said.
"After discussions with various stakeholders and following consultation with UEFA, a six person normalisation committee with football personalities from Bosnia-Hercegovina has been established and put in place with immediate effect."
"The normalisation committee acts immediately as football federation of Bosnia Hercegovina executive committee as well as FFBH emergency committee," it added.
European and world footballing chiefs have demanded that NSBIH' s ethnic-based tripartite presidency -- consisting of a Croat, a Muslim and a Serb member -- be replaced by a single president, to overcome divisions that blocked decision making.
Bosnia are currently involved in qualifying for the 2012 European Championships to be held in Poland and Ukraine, playing in Group D. Their next game is against Romania on June 3.
British comedian Russell Brand has won a victory against himself this weekend as two well- received films, featuring his voice and act, dominated the box office in a one-two finish.
"Hop," a live-action animated comedy about a next-generation Easter Bunny who leaves Easter Island for Hollywood to become a famous drummer, pulled in 21.6 million dollars in movie ticket receipts on 3,616 screens despite a 42 percent drop from the previous week, finishing as the top grosser of the North America box office. The Universal Studios' live Easter-themed live-action/ animation hybrid is on track to pull in a cumulative gross of 68.2 million dollars. Brand voices the character of the Bunny's rebellious son.
Russell Brand
As one of the four films debuted over the weekend, "Arthur," a Warner Bros. remake of a 1981 comedy garnered 12.6 million dollars on 3,276 screens in Canada and the United States as the second moneymaker. The film, which also stars Helen Mirren and Jennifer Garner, features Brand as the title role, a boozy playboy rascal who is on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress but ends up falling for a common working class girl. It is Jason Winer's first film that he directed since he has made award- winning television series "Modern Family."
Opening in the third place is "Hanna," an action thriller from Focus Features, which pulled in 12.3 million dollars in ticket stubs. Starring Saoirse Ronan as a teenage assassin, the flick received mostly positive response from the critics and moviegoers.
"Soul Surfer," a Sony/TriStar drama which tell how a teenage girl continued to surf after losing her arm in a shark attack, came in fourth with 11.1 million dollars from 2,214 screens. It stars AnnaSophia Robb as the title role. It boasts a rare A+ from CinemaScore.
"Insidious," an indie horror film by newcomer Film District, showed a strong staying power, finished in the fifth place with 9. 7 million dollars, for a total of 27 million dollars in two weeks.
"Your Highness," the weekend's fourth wide release, finished in sixth place with 9.5 million dollars from 2,769 screens. The Universal fantasy comedy, starring Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman, received mostly negative reviews. Among its audience, 58 percent were male and 55 percent were over 25 years old, according to the studio.
AC Milan kept their three-point lead intact with a 2-1 win at Fiorentina on Sunday, while Napoli chased on after beating Bologna 2-0.
AC Milan were back to winning after they thrashed Inter 3-0 last week, and they brought the momentum to Fiorentina.
Alexandre Pato headed an assist for Clarence Seedorf's eighth- minute opener and the Brazilian turned scorer four minutes before half-time to double his side's lead.
Canadian Juan Manuel Vargas breathed life into Fiorentina's bid to win a point with 11 minutes remaining. Although Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off in the 87th minute, on his return from suspension, the visitors held on for victory.
Napoli's good form continued after they won 2-0 at Bologna, while Juventus came from behind to defeat Genoa 3-2.
AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) is challenged by Fiorentina's Gianluca Comotto during their Italian Serie A soccer match in Florence April 10, 2011. AC Milan kept their three-point lead intact with a 2-1 win at Fiorentina on Sunday, while Napoli chased on after beating Bologna 2-0.
Walter Mazzarri's side won their fourth match in succession thanks to first-half strikes from Giuseppe Mascara and Marek Hamsik.
Bologna had only lost at home in the league once since December so the task was never going to be easy for the Naples-based club, but Mascara gave his side the lead on the half-hour mark.
He was booked for his celebration in a tense match littered with cautions, with the most crucial yellow card of the match handed to Bologna goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano on the stroke of half-time.
Viviano was given a caution for his foul on Ezequiel Lavezzi and Hamsik buried the resultant penalty, giving his side a valuable two-goal advantage at the main break.
The cards continued to come in the second half but Napoli held on for an important away win.
In Torino, Juventus scored three second-half goals as they recorded an impressive 3-2 home win against Genoa.
Leonardo Bonucci's seventh-minute own-goal had the hosts on the back foot but they equalized through another own goal, with Marco Rossi putting the ball into his own net early in the second half.
That goal energized Juve and although Antonio Floro Flores hit the back of the net for Genoa after 57 minutes, goals from strike duo Alessandro Matri and Luca Toni -- the latter with seven minutes remaining -- saw Luigi Delneri's side record victory.
In other matches, Lazio moved ahead of Udinese and into fourth after a 2-0 home triumph over relegation-threatened Parma, thanks to goals from Hernanes and Sergio Floccari.
Struggling Sampdoria's horror run of form continued as they slumped to a 2-1 home defeat to Lecce, with David Di Michele and Ruben Olivera getting on the scoresheet for the victors.
Striker Massimo Maccarone pulled a goal back with 21 minutes remaining but it was not enough for Sampdoria, who lost key goal- scorers Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini in the January transfer window and have now won just one of their last 14 league matches.
Cesena, who sit second from bottom, pulled off a remarkable comeback to draw 2-2 at Palermo.
First-half goals to Jasmin Kurtic and Mauricio Pinilla had Palermo seemingly cruising, but stoppage-time strikes to Marco Parolo and Emanuele Giaccherini saw the promoted side snare a famous draw.
As if the goals did not make the second half eventful enough, three Cesena players were shown red cards. Defender Steve von Bergen was dismissed on 74 minutes for a dangerous foul of Pinilla, with unused substitute Paolo Sammarco also red carded for leading the protestations.
Fellow substitute and veteran goalkeeper Alex Calderoni followed him down the tunnel in the 90th minute after overdoing the celebrations at Giaccherini's equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Maxi Lopez's first-half equalizer gave Catania a point in a 1-1 draw at Bari. Brescia also came from behind to draw 1-1, at Cagliari.