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Musicians

Musicians' Brains Respond Differently to Pain Due to Long-Term Training

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Music training and long-term practice can reshape the brain's response to pain, researchers have found. A study on 40 musicians and non-musicians showed that musicians experienced less discomfort and had a different brain response to pain than non-musicians. The study's findings suggest that musical training can create a buffer against the negative effects of pain, and that long-term training and experience can shape how people perceive pain.

Key Takeaways:

  • Musicians' brains show a more finely tuned hand map in the brain, which is more refined with the number of hours they have spent practising.
  • Musicians reported experiencing less discomfort after pain was induced, and their hand maps remained unchanged even after two days of pain.
  • The study found a significant difference in how musicians and non-musicians' brains responded to pain, with musicians showing a buffer against the usual negative effects of pain.
  • The study suggests that long-term training and experience can shape how people perceive pain, and that musical training may be beneficial for those living with pain.
  • The research team is now conducting further studies on pain to determine if musical training can protect people from altered attention and cognition during chronic pain.

Statistics:

  • 40 people participated in the study, with 20 musicians and 20 non-musicians.
  • The study used a compound called nerve growth factor to induce hand pain in participants, which is safe, temporary, and doesn't cause any damage.
  • The study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure brain activity in participants, with TMS sending tiny magnetic pulses into the brain.
  • The study found that musicians' brains showed a more refined hand map in the brain, with the number of hours they had spent practising correlating with the level of refinement.
  • 2 days after pain was induced, the hand maps of non-musicians' brains shrunk, but the maps in musicians' brains remained unchanged.

Sources:

  • Zamorano, A. M. (no date). Neuroscience finds musicians feel pain differently from the rest of us. The Conversation.
  • https://theconversation.com/neuroscience-finds-musicians-feel-pain-differently-from-the-rest-of-us-265815.

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