Early-life music lessons can rewire the brain and boost a child's performance

Music lessons in early childhood lead to changes in the brain that could improve a child's performance far into adulthood, researchers say.

Brain scans of young adults revealed that those who had formal musical training before the age of seven had thicker brain regions that deal with hearing and self-awareness.

The findings highlight how brain development can be influenced by the age when children start to learn a musical instrument, and how those changes can persist later in life.

"Early musical training does more good for children than just making it easier for them to enjoy music. It changes the brain and these brain changes could lead to cognitive advances as well," says Yunxin Wang of Beijing Normal University.

"Our results suggest it might be better to start musical training before age seven, which is consistent with what most piano teachers recommend," she adds.

Wang devised the study to investigate whether musical training early on in life had any lasting effect on the structure of the brain. She hoped the results might help parents decide when was best for their children to learn an instrument.

The brain's cortex plays a leading role in crucial abilities, from thought and language to memory and attention. The region matures rapidly in the early years of life, and its development could be affected more if a person started musical training before it fully matured.