Playing Music Alters the Processing of Multiple Sensory Stimuli in the Brain

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics recently studied the way a musicians brain responds to simultaneous stimuli. They experimented on a significant sample size and used the functional MRI to support their results. The latter were compared with those coming from non-musicians. It was concluded that while pianists' synchronous music and hand movements'  perception increases with (piano) practicing, they are no better in judging the synchronicity of lip movements and speech than any ordinary person.

"For this study, we availed of the fact that the pianists specifically train in an activity, in which several sensory stimuli, that is visual and auditory information, movement and the striking of the piano keys, have to be connected... explains Uta Noppeney," explains Uta Noppeney from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.

Read the SD article for complete study of how the pianists were studie and how the results were co-related with  MRI to analyse the sensory nerves in their brains.